diff --git a/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.c b/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.c
index 245e0f9a8..4a9f5b849 100644
--- a/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.c
+++ b/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.c
@@ -140,8 +140,8 @@ static sshkey_public_key_t *load_from_stream(FILE *file)
 	char line[1024], *token;
 
 	while (!public && fgets(line, sizeof(line), file))
-	{	/* the format is: ssh-[rsa|ecdsa-...] <key(base64)> <identifier> */
-		if (!strpfx(line, "ssh-"))
+	{	/* the format is: ssh-rsa|ecdsa-... <key(base64)> <identifier> */
+		if (!strpfx(line, "ssh-rsa") && !strpfx(line, ECDSA_PREFIX))
 		{
 			continue;
 		}
diff --git a/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.h b/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.h
index 7225f5550..20979c283 100644
--- a/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.h
+++ b/src/libstrongswan/plugins/sshkey/sshkey_builder.h
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 typedef struct sshkey_public_key_t sshkey_public_key_t;
 
 /**
- * Public key implementation supporting RFC 4253 decoding.
+ * Public key implementation supporting RFC 4253/RFC 5656 decoding.
  */
 struct sshkey_public_key_t {