SSH ProxyCommand NC ERROR

SSH ProxyCommand NC ERROR

Description

Platform: Manjaro 20

Configuration reference: using-proxy-for-git-or-github.md

Error: Couldn't resolve host "x.x.x.x:8888"
kex_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host
Connection closed by UNKNOWN port 65535

When I was configuring ssh proxy tunnel,ProxyCommand nc ... , then I try to ssh -T git@github.com to validate my proxy configuration. I got those errors described below.

It seems like nc didn’t recognized the option -X , thus failed to use the proxy.

I tried to locate nc by using which nc, then I got /usr/bin/nc.

Locate the problems

So I try to find to trace the version of nc, to see whether its version is too old or something with its dependencies causing it to be outdated.

This kind of problem is not likely to happen on a rolling base system like Manjaro, since it always receives the latest softwares/dependencies update.

nc --version
netcat (The GNU Netcat) 0.7.1
Copyright (C) 2002 - 2003  Giovanni Giacobbi

This program comes with NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
You may redistribute copies of this program under the terms of
the GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file named COPYING.

Original idea and design by Avian Research <hobbit@avian.org>,
Written by Giovanni Giacobbi <giovanni@giacobbi.net>.

nc --help
GNU netcat 0.7.1, a rewrite of the famous networking tool.
Basic usages:
connect to somewhere:  nc [options] hostname port [port] ...
listen for inbound:    nc -l -p port [options] [hostname] [port] ...
tunnel to somewhere:   nc -L hostname:port -p port [options]

This is what i got when exec nc --version & nc --help

Then i try using pamac search to see whether the /usr/bin/nc in my path/system have some kind of dependency problems.

I got

pamac search netcat 
# Output
openbsd-netcat                                                                                                     1.217_2-1  community 
    TCP/IP swiss army knife. OpenBSD variant.
gnu-netcat                                                                                             [Installed] 0.7.1-8    extra 
    GNU rewrite of netcat, the network piping application

Turns out that there are two different versions of nc, one is under openbsd, the other one is under gnu.

Solution

attempt installing the right version of nc

It may prompt “To remove conflict”, just type y, let pacman handle for you.

sudo pacman -S openbsd-netcat

nc -help
OpenBSD netcat (Debian patchlevel 1)
usage: nc [-46CDdFhklNnrStUuvZz] [-I length] [-i interval] [-M ttl]
          [-m minttl] [-O length] [-P proxy_username] [-p source_port]
          [-q seconds] [-s sourceaddr] [-T keyword] [-V rtable] [-W recvlimit]
          [-w timeout] [-X proxy_protocol] [-x proxy_address[:port]]
          [destination] [port]

It lists -X as proxy_protocol, just like using-proxy-for-git-or-github.md and nc docs.

here is my ~/.ssh/config

Host github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile "/path/to/key"
  ProxyCommand nc -X 5 -x 192.168.123.4:8888 %h %p

And it works

ssh -T git@github.com

Enter passphrase for key '/path/to/key*****': 
Hi ****! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.