diff --git a/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb b/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb
index c68c93e40..2f5f8ec55 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ module Vagrant
     # Opens an SSH connection to this environment's virtual machine and yields
     # a Net::SSH object which can be used to execute remote commands.
     def execute(opts={})
+      # Check the key permissions to avoid SSH hangs
+      check_key_permissions(env.config.ssh.private_key_path)
+
       Net::SSH.start(env.config.ssh.host,
                      env.config[:ssh][:username],
                      opts.merge( :port => port,
diff --git a/test/vagrant/ssh_test.rb b/test/vagrant/ssh_test.rb
index 306c81cd4..ce95ad0e9 100644
--- a/test/vagrant/ssh_test.rb
+++ b/test/vagrant/ssh_test.rb
@@ -85,6 +85,14 @@ class SshTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   context "executing ssh commands" do
     setup do
       mock_ssh
+      @ssh.stubs(:check_key_permissions)
+    end
+
+    should "check key permissions then attempt to start connection" do
+      seq = sequence("seq")
+      @ssh.expects(:check_key_permissions).with(@env.config.ssh.private_key_path).once.in_sequence(seq)
+      Net::SSH.expects(:start).once.in_sequence(seq)
+      @ssh.execute
     end
 
     should "call net::ssh.start with the proper names" do
@@ -123,6 +131,7 @@ class SshTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   context "checking if host is up" do
     setup do
       mock_ssh
+      @ssh.stubs(:check_key_permissions)
     end
 
     should "return true if SSH connection works" do