ssh: clarify intended use of Permissions.

The Permissions struct should be used to pass information from
authentication callback to server application.

Fixes golang/go#20094.

Change-Id: I5542b657d053452327260707a24925286546bfdd
Reviewed-on: https://go-review.googlesource.com/45311
Run-TryBot: Han-Wen Nienhuys <[email protected]>
TryBot-Result: Gobot Gobot <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Brad Fitzpatrick <[email protected]>

ssh/example_test.go

@@ -56,7 +56,12 @@ func ExampleNewServerConn() {
 		// Remove to disable public key auth.
 		PublicKeyCallback: func(c ssh.ConnMetadata, pubKey ssh.PublicKey) (*ssh.Permissions, error) {
 			if authorizedKeysMap[string(pubKey.Marshal())] {
-				return nil, nil
+				return &ssh.Permissions{
+					// Record the public key used for authentication.
+					Extensions: map[string]string{
+						"pubkey-fp": ssh.FingerprintSHA256(pubKey),
+					},
+				}, nil
 			}
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unknown public key for %q", c.User())
 		},
@@ -87,10 +92,12 @@ func ExampleNewServerConn() {
 
 	// Before use, a handshake must be performed on the incoming
 	// net.Conn.
-	_, chans, reqs, err := ssh.NewServerConn(nConn, config)
+	conn, chans, reqs, err := ssh.NewServerConn(nConn, config)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Fatal("failed to handshake: ", err)
 	}
+	log.Printf("logged in with key %s", conn.Permissions.Extensions["pubkey-fp"])
+
 	// The incoming Request channel must be serviced.
 	go ssh.DiscardRequests(reqs)
 

ssh/server.go

@@ -14,23 +14,34 @@ import (
 )
 
 // The Permissions type holds fine-grained permissions that are
-// specific to a user or a specific authentication method for a
-// user. Permissions, except for "source-address", must be enforced in
-// the server application layer, after successful authentication. The
-// Permissions are passed on in ServerConn so a server implementation
-// can honor them.
+// specific to a user or a specific authentication method for a user.
+// The Permissions value for a successful authentication attempt is
+// available in ServerConn, so it can be used to pass information from
+// the user-authentication phase to the application layer.
 type Permissions struct {
-	// Critical options restrict default permissions. Common
-	// restrictions are "source-address" and "force-command". If
-	// the server cannot enforce the restriction, or does not
-	// recognize it, the user should not authenticate.
+	// CriticalOptions indicate restrictions to the default
+	// permissions, and are typically used in conjunction with
+	// user certificates. The standard for SSH certificates
+	// defines "force-command" (only allow the given command to
+	// execute) and "source-address" (only allow connections from
+	// the given address). The SSH package currently only enforces
+	// the "source-address" critical option. It is up to server
+	// implementations to enforce other critical options, such as
+	// "force-command", by checking them after the SSH handshake
+	// is successful. In general, SSH servers should reject
+	// connections that specify critical options that are unknown
+	// or not supported.
 	CriticalOptions map[string]string
 
 	// Extensions are extra functionality that the server may
-	// offer on authenticated connections. Common extensions are
-	// "permit-agent-forwarding", "permit-X11-forwarding". Lack of
-	// support for an extension does not preclude authenticating a
-	// user.
+	// offer on authenticated connections. Lack of support for an
+	// extension does not preclude authenticating a user. Common
+	// extensions are "permit-agent-forwarding",
+	// "permit-X11-forwarding". The Go SSH library currently does
+	// not act on any extension, and it is up to server
+	// implementations to honor them. Extensions can be used to
+	// pass data from the authentication callbacks to the server
+	// application layer.
 	Extensions map[string]string
 }
 
@@ -55,9 +66,14 @@ type ServerConfig struct {
 	// attempts to authenticate using a password.
 	PasswordCallback func(conn ConnMetadata, password []byte) (*Permissions, error)
 
-	// PublicKeyCallback, if non-nil, is called when a client attempts public
-	// key authentication. It must return true if the given public key is
-	// valid for the given user. For example, see CertChecker.Authenticate.
+	// PublicKeyCallback, if non-nil, is called when a client
+	// offers a public key for authentication. It must return true
+	// if the given public key can be used to authenticate the
+	// given user. For example, see CertChecker.Authenticate. A
+	// call to this function does not guarantee that the key
+	// offered is in fact used to authenticate. To record any data
+	// depending on the public key, store it inside a
+	// Permissions.Extensions entry.
 	PublicKeyCallback func(conn ConnMetadata, key PublicKey) (*Permissions, error)
 
 	// KeyboardInteractiveCallback, if non-nil, is called when