Security Issues
ssh-agent creates a socket and then checks the connections from ssh. Everyone who is able to connect to this socket also has access to the ssh-agent. The permissions are set as in a usual Linux or Unix system. When the agent starts, it creates a new directory in /tmp with restrictive permissions. The socket is located in the folder.
There is a possibility to try to prevent malware from using the ssh-agent socket. If the ssh-add -c option is set when the keys are imported into the ssh-agent, then the agent requests a confirmation from the user using the program specified by the SSH_ASKPASS environment variable, whenever ssh tries to connect.
On the local system, it is important that the root user is trustworthy, because the root user can, amongst other things, just read the key file directly. On the remote system, if the ssh-agent connection is forwarded, it is also important that the root user is trustworthy, because they can access the agent socket (though not the key).
Read more about this topic: Ssh-agent
Famous quotes related to security issues:
“Of course we will continue to work for cheaper electricity in the homes and on the farms of America; for better and cheaper transportation; for low interest rates; for sounder home financing; for better banking; for the regulation of security issues; for reciprocal trade among nations and for the wiping out of slums. And my friends, for all of these we have only begun to fight.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)