[Poldi] PAM authentication error "failed to verify challenge"

Syl syl-gnupg at sylops.com
Fri Feb 2 17:31:06 CET 2018


Hi there,

I'm the proud owner of a Nitrokey Pro OpenPGP card that works fine for
encryption and SSH authentication. I'd love to use it for sudo/login
operations as well, but I've had no luck so far in setting up Poldi for
PAM authentication.

Would you please let me know what I missed, or maybe how I could further
investigate?

Here is what I did:

  * My card contains 4096 bit encryption, signing and authentication
    subkeys.
  * I'm using GnuPG v2.1.15 on a regular Ubuntu 17.10 desktop.
  * Poldi was installed via the Ubuntu 17.10 "libpam-poldi" package.
  * I've associated the card Application ID with my system username
    within "/etc/poldi/localdb/users".
  * I've exported my public authentication subkey in a file named after
    the card Application ID within "/etc/poldi/localdb/keys/". Since
    "poldi-ctrl" is no longer available, and 'gpg-connect-agent
    "/datafile <app_id>" "SCD READKEY --advanced OPENPGP.3" "/bye"'
    would only yield "ERR 100663414 Invalid ID <SCD>", I've been using
    "gpg --export | openpgp2ssh <auth_subkey_fp> | ssh-conv | sexp-conv
    --syntax=hex" to produce the appropriate format, i.e. "(public-key
    (rsa-pkcs1-sha1 (n #00e2 ... 7#) (e #010001#)))".
  * I've replaced "@include common-auth" with "auth sufficient
    pam_poldi.so" in "/etc/pam.d/sudo".

And this is where I stand:

  * "sudo ls" is unsuccessful, though the card LED lights up (and the
    PIN is correct):
    Insert authentication card for user `syl'
    Trying authentication as user `syl'...
    Please enter the PIN
    Sorry, try again.
    Insert authentication card for user `syl'
    Trying authentication as user `syl'...
    Sorry, try again.
    Insert authentication card for user `syl'
    Trying authentication as user `syl'...
    sudo: 3 incorrect password attempts
  * "/var/log/poldi.log" doesn't give much details (card serial number
    edited by me):
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:19:53 [23950] debug: using authentication method
    `localdb'
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:19:54 [23950] debug: got scdaemon socket name
    from gpg-agent, connected to socket '/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.scdaemon'
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:19:56 [23950] debug: Waiting for card for user
    `syl'...
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:19:58 [23950] debug: connected to card; serial
    number is: D...0
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:19:58 [23950] debug: Trying authentication as
    user `syl'...
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] error: failed to verify challenge
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] error: authentication failed:
    General error
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] debug: using authentication method
    `localdb'
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] debug: got scdaemon socket name
    from gpg-agent, connected to socket '/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.scdaemon'
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] debug: Waiting for card for user
    `syl'...
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] debug: connected to card; serial
    number is: D...0
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:06 [23950] debug: Trying authentication as
    user `syl'...
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] error: failed to verify challenge
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] error: authentication failed:
    General error
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] debug: using authentication method
    `localdb'
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] debug: got scdaemon socket name
    from gpg-agent, connected to socket '/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.scdaemon'
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] debug: Waiting for card for user
    `syl'...
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] debug: connected to card; serial
    number is: D...0
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:10 [23950] debug: Trying authentication as
    user `syl'...
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:13 [23950] error: failed to verify challenge
    Poldi 2018-02-02 17:20:13 [23950] error: authentication failed:
    General error
  * For the record, "/etc/poldi/poldi.conf" reads as follows:
    auth-method localdb
    log-file /var/log/poldi.log
    debug

Thanks in advance for your help, best regards,

--Syl

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