Setting SSH Key Permissions

If you use ssh (Secure Shell) then you have likely ran into this error.

ssh bitnami@some.host.name The authenticity of host ‘some.host.name (0.0.0.0)’ can’t be established. ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:somerandomstring/anotherrandomstring Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes Warning: Permanently added ‘some.host.name’ (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

If you haven’t generated a key then you’ll want to use ssh-keygen to create a key for ssh sessions.

Linux

Usually, your key file will be located at ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub on UNIX based systems

chmod 600 path/to/key/keyfile

Windows

Usually, your key file will be located at %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\id_rsa.pub

Run this command to enable inheritance

icacls path/to/key/keyfile /inheritance:r
processed file: keyfile

Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files

Run this command to grant read access to your user on the file

icacls file /grant:r yourusername:"(R)"
processed file: keyfile
Successfully processed 1 files; Failed processing 0 files