Reference

kpcli(1)

A command line interface to KeePass database files.

NAME

kpcli - A command line interface to KeePass database files.

DESCRIPTION

A command line interface (interactive shell) to work with KeePass database files (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KeePass). It supports all version 1.x (*.kdb) and 2.x (*.kdbx) prior to the KDBX4 update.

This program was inspired by my use of "kedpm -c" combined with my need to migrate to KeePass. The curious can read about the Ked Password Manager at http://kedpm.sourceforge.net/.

USAGE

Please run the program and type "help" to learn how to use it. Run the program with --help as a command line option to learn about its command line options.

INSTALLATION

Please see https://sf.net/p/kpcli/wiki/Installation%20instructions

CAVEATS AND WORDS OF CAUTION

The main author of kpcli primarily interoperability tests with KeePassX (http://www.keepassx.org/) and primarily uses KeePass v1 (*.kdb) files. Support for KeePass v2 (*.kdbx) files in kpcli is substantial, and many people use it daily, but it is not the author's primary use case. It is also the author's intent to maintain compatibility with v1 files, and so anyone sending patches, for consideration for inclusion in future kpcli versions, is asked to validate them with both v1 and v2 files.

Version 4 of the KDBX file format is unsupported

KeePass 2.35 introduced version 4 of the KDBX file format (KDBXv4) and it is unsupported by File::KeePass. File::KeePass can only decrypt databases encrypted with the AES cipher and newer KeePass versions offer ChaCha20, which will also save the file as KDBXv4. File::KeePass also does not support the new Argon2 key derivation function (KDF).

  - https://keepass.info/help/kb/kdbx_4.html
  - https://metacpan.org/pod/Crypt::AuthEnc::ChaCha20Poly1305

As of KeePass 2.46, you can use the "File -> Database Settings -> Security" tab to set the encryption algorithm to AES/Rijndael and the key derivation function to AES-KDF and then kpcli will be able to operate on the files.

As of KeePassXC 2.7, you can use the "Database -> Database Security -> Encryption Settings" tab to change the "Database format" to "KDBX 3" kpcli will be able to operate on the files.

Filesystem Access and Tab Completion on Microsoft Windows

Filesytem access and tab completion on Microsoft Windows uses forward slashes, and so paths like: c:/Users/hightowe/personal.kdb

File tab completion is also case insensitive, which seems cumbersome, but it matches Windows filesystem behavior.

Some versions of Term::ReadLine::Perl5 are incompatible

"Term::ReadLine::Perl5" versions 1.39-1.42 are incompatible with the "Term::ShellUI" module, which is core to kpcli. There is information about this in kpcli SF bug #18 (http://sourceforge.net/p/kpcli/bugs/18/). The "Term::ReadLine::Perl5" author submitted a "Term::ShellUI" patch to resolve the issue (https://rt.cpan.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=105375) and he also released "Term::ReadLine::Perl5" version 1.43 which resolves it.

No history tracking for KeePass 2 (*.kdbx) files

Recording entries' history in KeePass 2 files is not implemented. History that exists in a file is not destroyed, but results of entry changes made in kpcli are not recorded into their history. Prior-to-change copies are stored into the "Recycle Bin." Note that File::KeePass does not encrypt passwords of history entries in RAM, like it does for current entries. This is a small security risk that can, in theory, allow privileged users to steal your passwords from RAM, from entry history.

File::KeePass bug prior to version 2.03

Prior to version 2.03, File::KeePass had a bug related to some "unknown" data that KeePassX stores in group records. For File::KeePass < v2.03, kpcli deletes those unknown data when saving. Research in the libkpass (http://libkpass.sourceforge.net/) source code revealed that what early versions of File::KeePass classifies as "unknown" are the times for created/modified/accessed/expires as well as "flags" (id=9), but only for groups; File::KeePass handled those fields just fine for entries. I found no ill-effect from dropping those fields when saving and so that is what kpcli does to work around the File::KeePass bug, if kpcli is using File::KeePass < v2.03.

BUGS

Using Ctrl-D to Exit

Versions of Term::ShellUI prior to v0.9. do not have the ability to trap Ctrl-D exits by the client program. I submitted a patch to remedy that and it made it into Term::ShellUI v0.9. Please upgrade if kpcli asks you to.

Multiple Entries or Groups With the Same Name in the Same Group

This program does not support multiple entries in the same group having the exact same name, nor does it support multiple groups at the same level having the same name, and it likely never will. KeepassX does support those. This program detects and alert when an opened database file has those issues, but it does not refuse to save (overwrite) a file that is opened like that. Saves are actually safe (no data loss) as long as the user has not touched one of the duplicately-named items.

Text::Shellwords::Cursor parse_line() infinite loop

There is a bug in Text::Shellwords::Cursor::parse_line() that will send it into an infinite loop. To trigger it, one need only try to do tab completion with an escape character as the last character on the command line. This perl one-liner demonstrates the problem:

  $ perl -MData::Dumper -MText::Shellwords::Cursor \
        -e '$p=Text::Shellwords::Cursor->new(); \
        @t = $p->parse_line("open c:\\u"); print Dumper(\@t); \
        @t = $p->parse_line("open c:\\"); print Dumper(\@t);'

The second call to parse_line() will enter an infinite loop.

AUTHOR

Lester Hightower <hightowe at cpan dot org>

LICENSE

This program may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

CREDITS

Special thanks to Paul Seamons, author of "File::KeePass", and to Scott Bronson, author of "Term::ShellUI". Without those two modules this program would not have been practical for me to author.

CHANGELOG

 2010-Nov-28 v0.1 - Initial release.
 2010-Nov-28 v0.2 - Encrypt the master password in RAM.
 2010-Nov-29 v0.3 - Fixed master password encryption for saveas.
 2010-Nov-29 v0.4 - Fixed code to work w/out Term::ReadLine::Gnu.
                  - Documented File::KeePass v0.1 hierarchy bug.
 2010-Nov-29 v0.5 - Made find command case insensitive.
                  - Bugfix in new command (path regex problem).
 2010-Nov-29 v0.6 - Added lock file support; warn if a lock exists.
 2010-Dec-01 v0.7 - Further documented the group fields that are
                     dropped, in the CAVEATS section of the POD.
                  - Sort group and entry titles naturally.
 2010-Dec-23 v0.8 - Worked with File::KeePass author to fix a couple
                     of bugs and then required >=v0.03 of that module.
                  - Sorted "/_found" to last in the root group list.
                  - Fixed a "database changed" state bug in cli_save().
                  - Made the find command ignore entries in /Backup/.
                  - Find now offers show when only one entry is found.
                  - Provided a patch to Term::ShellUI author to add
                     eof_exit_hook and added support for it to kpcli.
 2011-Feb-19 v0.9 - Fixed bugs related to spaces in group names as
                     reported in SourceForge bug number 3132258.
                  - The edit command now prompts to save on changes.
                  - Put scrub_unknown_values_from_all_groups() calls
                     back into place after realizing that v0.03 of
                     File::KeePass did not resolve all of the problems.
 2011-Apr-23 v1.0 - Changed a perl 5.10+ regex to a backward-compatable
                     one to resolve SourceForge bug number 3192413.
                  - Modified the way that the /Backup group is ignored
                     by the find command to stop kpcli from croaking on
                     multiple entries with the same name in that group.
                     - Note: There is a more general bug here that
                             needs addressing (see BUGS section).
                  - An empty title on new entry aborts the new entry.
                  - Changed kdb files are now detected/warned about.
                  - Tested against Term::ShellUI v0.9, which has my EOF
                     hook patch, and updated kpcli comments about it.
                  - Term::ShellUI's complete_history() method was
                     removed between v0.86 and v0.9 and so I removed
                     kpli's call to it (Ctrl-r works for history).
                  - Added the "icons" command.
 2011-Sep-07 v1.1 - Empty DBs are now initialized to KeePassX style.
                  - Fixed a couple of bugs in the find command.
                  - Fixed a password noecho bug in the saveas command.
                  - Fixed a kdb_has_changed bug in the saveas command.
                  - Fixed a cli_open bug where it wasn't cli_close'ing.
                  - Fixed variable init bugs in put_master_passwd().
                  - Fixed a false warning in warn_if_file_changed().
 2011-Sep-30 v1.2 - Added the "export" command.
                  - Added the "import" command.
                  - Command "rmdir" asks then deletes non-empty groups.
                  - Command "new" can auto-generate random passwords.
 2012-Mar-03 v1.3 - Fixed bug in cl command as reported in SourceForge
                     bug number 3496544.
 2012-Apr-17 v1.4 - Added key file support based on a user contributed
                     patch with SourceForge ID# 3518388.
                  - Added my_help_call() to allow for longer and more
                     descriptive command summaries (for help command).
                  - Stopped allowing empty passwords for export.
 2012-Oct-13 v1.5 - Fixed "help <foo>" commands, that I broke in v1.4.
                  - Command "edit" can auto-generate random passwords.
                  - Added the "cls" and "clear" commands from a patch
                     with SourceForge ID# 3573930.
                  - Tested compatibility with File::KeePass v2.03 and
                     made minor changes that are possible with >=2.01.
                  - With File::KeePass v2.03, kpcli should now support
                     KeePass v2 files (*.kdbx).
 2012-Nov-25 v1.6 - Hide passwords (red on red) in the show command
                     unless the -f option is given.
                  - Added the --readonly command line option.
                  - Added support for multi-line notes/comments;
                     input ends on a line holding a single ".".
 2013-Apr-25 v1.7 - Patched to use native File::KeePass support for key
                     files, if the File::KeePass version is new enough.
                  - Added the "version" and "ver" commands.
                  - Updated documentation as Ubuntu 12.10 now packages
                     all of kpcli's dependencies.
                  - Added --histfile command line option.
                  - Record modified times on edited records, from a
                     patch with SourceForge ID# 3611713.
                  - Added the -a option to the show command.
 2013-Jun-09 v2.0 - Removed the unused Clone module after a report that
                     Clone is no longer in core Perl as of v5.18.0.
                  - Added the stats and pwck commands.
                  - Added clipboard commands (xw/xu/xp/xx).
                  - Fixed some long-standing tab completion bugs.
                  - Warn if multiple groups or entries are titled the
                     same within a group, except for /Backup entries.
 2013-Jun-10 v2.1 - Fixed several more tab completion bugs, and they
                     were serious enough to warrant a quick release.
 2013-Jun-16 v2.2 - Trap and handle SIGINT (^C presses).
                  - Trap and handle SIGTSTP (^Z presses).
                  - Trap and handle SIGCONT (continues after ^Z).
                  - Stopped printing found dictionary words in pwck.
 2013-Jul-01 v2.3 - More readline() and signal handling improvements.
                  - Title conflict checks in cli_new()/edit()/mv().
                  - Group title conflict checks in rename().
                  - cli_new() now accepts optional path&|title param.
                  - cli_ls() can now list multiple paths.
                  - cli_edit() now shows the "old" values for users
                     to edit, if Term::ReadLine::Gnu is available.
                  - cli_edit() now aborts all changes on ^C.
                  - cli_saveas() now asks before overwriting a file.
 2013-Nov-26 v2.4 - Fixed several "perl -cw" warnings reported on
                     2013-07-09 as SourceForge bug #9.
                  - Bug fix for the cl command, but in sub cli_ls().
                  - First pass at Strawberry perl/MS Windows support.
                     - Enhanced support for Term::ReadLine::Perl
                     - Added support for Term::ReadLine::Perl5
                  - Added display of expire time for show -a.
                  - Added -a option to the find command.
                  - Used the new magic_file_type() in a few places.
                  - Added generatePasswordFromDict() and "w" generation.
                  - Added the -v option to the version command.
                     - Added the versions command.
 2014-Mar-15 v2.5 - Added length control (gNN) to password generation.
                  - Added the copy command (and cp alias).
                  - Added the clone command.
                  - Added optional modules not installed to version -v.
                  - Groups can now also be moved with the mv command.
                  - Modified cli_cls() to also work on MS Windows.
                  - Suppressed Term::ReadLine::Gnu hint on MS Windows.
                  - Suppressed missing termcap warning on MS Windows.
                  - Print a min number of *s to not leak passwd length.
                  - Removed unneeded use of Term::ReadLine.
                  - Quieted "inherited AUTOLOAD for non-method" warns
                     caused by Term::Readline::Gnu on perl 5.14.x.
 2014-Jun-06 v2.6 - Added interactive password generation ("i" method).
                     - Thanks to Florian Tham for the idea and patch.
                  - Show entry's tags if present (KeePass >= v2.11).
                     - Thanks to Florian Tham for the patch.
                  - Add/edit support for tags if a v2 file is opened.
                  - Added tags to the searched fields for "find -a".
                  - Show string fields (key/val pairs) in v2 files.
                  - Add/edit for string fields if a v2 file is opened.
                  - Show information about entries' file attachments.
                     2014-03-20 SourceForge feature request #6.
                  - New "attach" command to manage file attachments.
                  - Added "Recycle Bin" functionality and --no-recycle.
                  - For --readonly, don't create a lock file and don't
                     warn if one exists. 2014-03-27 SourceForge bug #11.
                  - Added key file generation to saveas and export.
                     2014-04-19 SourceForge bug #13.
                  - Added -expired option to the find command.
                  - Added "dir" as an alias for "ls"
                  - Added some additional info to the stats command.
                  - Added more detailed OS info for Linux/Win in vers.
                  - Now hides Meta-Info/SYSTEM entries.
                  - Fixed bug with SIGTSTP handling (^Z presses).
                  - Fixed missing refresh_state_all_paths() in cli_rm.
 2014-Jun-11 v2.7 - Bug fix release. Broke the open command in 2.6.
 2015-Feb-08 v2.8 - Fixed cli_copy bug; refresh paths and ask to save.
                  - Fixed a cli_mv bug; double path-normalization.
                  - Fixed a path display bug, if done after a cli_mv.
                  - Protect users from editing in the $FOUND_DIR.
                  - Keep file opened, read-only, to show up in lsof.
                  - Added inactivity locking (--timeout parameter).
                  - Added shell expansion support to cli_ls, with the
                     ability to manage _all_ listed entries by number.
                  - Added shell expansion support to cli_mv.
                  - Added [y/N] option to list entries after a find.
 2015-Jun-19 v3.0 - Added Password Safe v3 file importing; requires
                     optional Crypt::PWSafe3 from CPAN.
                  - Added $FORCED_READLINE global variable.
                  - Attachments sanity check; SourceForge bug #17.
                  - Endianness fix in magic_file_type(); SF bug #19.
 2016-Jul-30 v3.1 - Added the purge command.
                  - Added Data::Password::passwdqc support to the
                     pwck command and prefer it over Data::Password.
                  - Minor improvements in cli_pwck().
                  - Applied SF patch #6 from Chris van Marle.
                  - Addressed items pointed out in SF patch #7.
                  - In cli_save(), worked around a File::KeePass bug.
                     - rt.cpan.org tik# 113391; https://goo.gl/v65HKE
                  - Applied SF patch #8 from Maciej Grela.
                  - Optional better RNG; SF bug #30 from Aaron Toponce.
 2017-Dec-22 v3.2 - Added xpx command per the request in SF ticket #32.
                    Added autosave functionality (shadow copies).
                    Fixed a bug in new_edit_multiline_input() that was
                     preventing blank lines between paragraphs.
                    Fixed a typo in the --help info for --pwfile.
                    Fixed a small bug in subroutine destroy_found().
 2019-Aug-16 v3.3 - Allow open and save with key-only authentication,
                     as requested in SF bug #35.
                  - Prevent "multiple entries titled" warning in the
                     /_found/ area, as reports in SF bug #36.
                  - Fix two bugs affecting Windows, as reported in
                     SourceForge patch #11.
                  - Mark /_found entries as "*OLD" when listed, if
                     they reside in a group named old. Addresses an
                     issue where searches turn up "old" accounts.
 2020-Apr-25 v3.4 - Marking of "*OLD" /_found entries now includes
                     those having any "old" group in the entire path.
                  - Added get_macos_version() and now report more
                     details for macOS in the vers command.
                  - Test for a new enough version of Clipboard if on
                     macOS 10.15.0 or newer. See SF bug #41.
                  - Added some vers reporting of a few OS-specific
                     modules (around clipboard functionality).
                  - Added the "ver -vv" and "vers -v" options, for
                     additional verbosity of version reporting.
                  - Added --pwsplchars option, as requested in
                     SourceForge feature request #19.
                  - Fixed a few new "perl -cw" warnings.
                  - Added "use diagnostics" and cleaned up some items
                     that it pointed out.
                  - Added Google Authenticator style 2FA-TOTP support,
                     and with it the otp and xo commands.
                  - Added --xpxsecs option, as requested in
                     SourceForge feature request #20.
 2020-Sep-19 v3.5 - Added --xclipsel option, in response to
                     SourceForge bug #42.
                  - Fixed inability to change fields back to empty,
                     in response to SourceForge bug #43. The problem
                     still exists for Password and Notes, but a good
                     fix for those eludes me.
                  - Support for using perl modules installed in one's
                     home directory (~/perl5) on Unix-like systems.
                  - Added KeePass v2 (*.kdbx) support to export.
                  - The show command now redacts 2FA keys in Comments
                     unless both -a and -f are specified.
                  - Fixed an issue in cli_saveas() where the *.lock
                     file from the saveas source file was stranded.
                     Also fixed not properly switching to v2 behavior
                     when saveas-ing a v1 file to v2 (*.kdb to *.kdbx).
                  - Enhanced load_lsb_release() so that it will work
                     on more Linux operating systems.
                  - Fixed a couple of "vers -v" bugs on mswin32.
                  - Fixed a couple of bugs in the stats command.
                  - Minor, non-functional changes to prevent warnings
                     in new_edit_single_line_input() and cli_pwck().
                  - Replaced checks of $OPTIONAL_PM{<foo>}->{loaded}
                     with simpler calls to is_loaded(<foo>).
                  - Added several defined() tests that "use diagnostics"
                     pointed out on an older perl that I used (v5.10.1).
 2020-Oct-14 v3.6 - Allow multiple --command parameters and execute them
                    in order, per SourceForge feature request #22.
                  - Do a cli_ls() when find returns only one result and
                    the user asks to show it. Fixes SourceForge bug #44.
                  - Added --pwscmin and --pwscmax command line options,
                    per SourceForge feature request #23.
                  - Added --nopwstars per SF feature request #24.
                  - Added --pwwords and --pwlen command line options.
                  - Word-based generated passwords respect --pwlen.
                  - Added cli_passwd() to change the DB password.
                  - Only show help message when requested by --help, not
                    also when there are command line option errors.
                  - The cd command with no specified path now goes to /.
                  - Improved open_kdb() error reporting after seeing
                    https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1820134
                    and learning of the new kdbx v4 file format that
                    File::KeePass does not support.
                    Reference: https://keepass.info/help/kb/kdbx_4.html
                  - New message requesting kpcli development sponsorship.
                  - Removed the PREREQUISITES section from the POD and
                    replaced it with INSTALLATION that simply refers the
                    reader to the "Installation instructions" in the
                    kpcli project Wiki on SourceForge.
                  - Minor POD fixes.
 2022-May-19 v3.7 - Added my_complete_onlyfiles() and used it to work
                    around Term::ShellUI problems with file tab
                    completion on Windows, which now works properly.
                  - File tab completion is now case-insensitive on mswin.
                  - Now use my_complete_onlyfiles() for all platforms,
                    after discovering some other Term::ShellUI file
                    tab completion problems, even on Linux.
                  - cli_pwck() now supports Data::Password::zxcvbn and it
                    is the preferred pwck module, if it is installed.
                     - Info: https://github.com/dropbox/zxcvbn
                  - Added get_dirs() to the BEGIN block and stopped using
                    File::Find after realizing that it somewhat defeated
                    the purpose that I was trying to accomplish there.
                  - Added --nopwprint per SF bug report #44.
                  - Added the -f option to the autosave command.
                  - Fixed a --nopwstars bug per SF bug report #47.
                  - Enhanced validation of the --xclipsel option.
                  - Minor POD fixes.
                  - Added kdb_savetmp-related code to cli_save() to
                    guard against problems like the one reported in
                    Debian bug report #1006917.
 2022-Jul-21 v3.8 - Added get/set commands per SF feature request #27.
                  - Added version detection for KDBX files.
                  - Added the KDBX version in the stats output.
                  - Now reports that KDBX4 files cannot be opened.
                  - Can now import KDBX4 files using KeePassXC.
                  - Added deny_if_readonly() to import command.
 22-Jul-21 v3.8.1 - Fixed get/set commands bug. See SF feature req #27.

TODO ITEMS

  Consider adding support for setting the Expires date/time on entries
  when creating or editing them.
  Consider enhancing pwck with these features:
    - https://metacpan.org/pod/WebService::HIBP
    - https://metacpan.org/pod/Password::Policy::Rule::Pwned
  Inspired by tools such as:
    - https://sts10.github.io/2019/02/01/medic.html
    - https://github.com/gsurrel/keepwn
  Consider alternative KeePass libraries due to stagnation of
  File::KeePass. CPAN module File::KDBX is available as of
  April 30, 2022! KDBX4 support will likely be coming in a
  future version of kpcli, by way of File::KDBX.
  Consider adding support for TOTP with different digest algorithms
  than just SHA-1, such as SHA-256 and SHA-512. Also consider allowing
  the TOTP time to be something other than 30 seconds and the length
  of the OTP to be something other than six digits. None of those
  options are broadly used today, but when writing the TOTP code, I
  stumbled across a few. I did not implement it now primarily because
  Authen::OATH is not very condusive to using other digest algorithms.
  For future reference, would likely construct the strings like this:
    2FA-TOTP-SHA256: TheBase32SecretKeyProvided (30, 10)
  This code may prove useful if I decide to not use Authen::OATH:
  https://github.com/j256/perl-two-factor-auth/blob/master/totp.pl
  Consider adding TOTP storage support that is compatible with the
  way that KeePassXC provides it.
  By design, kpcli displays groups and entries in the hierarchy
  and order that they are stored in the keepass files. This is
  by design as the output then follows the hierarchey seen in
  grapical programs like KeePass and KeePassXC. Users may prefer
  to have groups and entries sorted. Consider adding a sort
  command and/or a command line option that would change the
  behavior of ls to sort its output (perhaps --sortls).
  Consider adding a tags command for use with v2 files.
   - To navigate by entry tags
  Consider supporting KeePass 2.x style entry history.
   - There are potential security implications in File::KeePass.
   - Related, consider adding a purge command for that history.
  Consider adding KeePass 2.x style multi-user synchronization.
  Consider adding searches for created, modified, and accessed times
  older than a user supplied time.

OPERATING SYSTEMS AND SCRIPT CATEGORIZATION

Unix-like

 - Originally written and tested on Ubuntu Linux 10.04.1 LTS.
 - As of version 3.7, development is done on Linux Mint 19.3.
 - Known to work on many other Linux and *BSD distributions, and
   kpcli is packaged with many distributions now-a-days.
 - Known to work on macOS and is packaged in Homebrew (brew.sh).
 - Will use modules installed under ~/perl5/. When not given root
   permission, tools like cpanm install to ~/perl5/ by default.

Microsoft Windows

 - As of v2.4, Microsoft Windows is also supported.
 - As of v3.5, compiled on Strawberry Perl 5.32.0.1 on Windows 10.

SCRIPT CATEGORIES

"UNIX/System_administration", "Win32/Utilities"

History