Accessing SSH Hosts using SecureCRT

SecureCRT has support for using X.509 certificates. (read)

SecureCRT users have reported having trouble getting SSH certificates to work on Windows 10/11. The following instructions are confirmed for MacOS.

• First, set up a client desktop for Smallstep in accordance with our client quickstart guide. Be sure to run step ssh login to make sure you have renewed certificates.

• Next, perform the following configuration in SecureCRT for each host you wish to connect to.

• Create a new Session in Session Manager and edit the properties as follows

  • Hostname (IP or hostname)

  • Username (the Smallstep user you'd be logging in as)

• Authentication Configuration

  • Uncheck all Authentication options except for PublicKey

  • Highlight PublicKey and click the gear icon to configure its properties for certificates

  • Navigate to the identity_key file found in the end-user's home directory under the hidden USER_HOME_DIR/.step/identity/ directory.

  • Make sure no other properties are checked as shown below and click OK to save your changes.
    

    

• SSH2 Configuration for host key algorithms

  • Under the SSH2 --> Host Key session options, be sure to enable the algorithm labeled as, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256
    

    

  • Save your changes and attempt to connect to the server from the session manager.