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Unknown host in .ssh folder?

M

m0ss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 7, 2013
3
0
Hi All,

I'm new here and relatively new to UNIX. I've read many threads on here since I converted to OSX but never written a post before so hoping someone can help me learn a bit more.

I was poking around my machine and found my .ssh folder and the known hosts file within it.

There is an IP and a long string within this known hosts file.

The IP is an Amazon Web Services IP as far as I can see and I assume the string is some kind of key.

Could someone explain what could cause such an IP to show in this hosts file and why it might be there and if it's normal?

Many thanks
m0ss
 
M

m0ss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 7, 2013
3
0
Thanks for the reply ConCat. Nope I don't use Amazon Cloud Drive. And my main private/etc/hosts doesn't include the same IP so no idea where it's come from.

I don't know enough about this but could this host in my SSH folder enable remote shell access?
 
ConCat

ConCat

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2012
722
0
In an ethereal plane of existence.
m0ss said:
Thanks for the reply ConCat. Nope I don't use Amazon Cloud Drive. And my main private/etc/hosts doesn't include the same IP so no idea where it's come from.

I don't know enough about this but could this host in my SSH folder enable remote shell access?
Click to expand...

No. What the host file does is redirect DNS queries, so for example, "localhost" is mapped in the host file to "127.0.0.1" for ipv4 and "fe80::1%lo0" for ipv6. That means that if you or any app on the computer attempts to access "localhost", it'll be directed to those IP addresses. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
M

m0ss

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 7, 2013
3
0
Cool. Thanks for the assurance. I've also commented it out now anyway.
 
chrfr

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,520
7,043
ConCat said:
No. What the host file does is redirect DNS queries, so for example, "localhost" is mapped in the host file to "127.0.0.1" for ipv4 and "fe80::1%lo0" for ipv6. That means that if you or any app on the computer attempts to access "localhost", it'll be directed to those IP addresses. I wouldn't worry about it.
Click to expand...

No, ~/.ssh/known_hosts has nothing to do with the above. The contents of known_hosts would be the public security keys of machines you've connected to in the past. It doesn't in itself indicate a security problem but it's not impossible.

http://amath.colorado.edu/computing/unix/sshknownhosts.html
 
ConCat

ConCat

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2012
722
0
In an ethereal plane of existence.
chrfr said:
No, ~/.ssh/known_hosts has nothing to do with the above. The contents of known_hosts would be the public security keys of machines you've connected to in the past. It doesn't in itself indicate a security problem but it's not impossible.

http://amath.colorado.edu/computing/unix/sshknownhosts.html
Click to expand...

Didn't know about that file. He mentioned the hosts file which is /etc/hosts.

EDIT: Oh, I see now. "Known hosts" file. I misread it the first time.
 
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