Question

PermitRootLogin no still allows root login via SSH

I have updated PermitRootLogin in /etc/ssh/sshd_config to no and issued a service ssh restart (multiple times) and I can still login via SSH as root using a public key. This should be blocked correct?

I have read the related Q&As here and various others from a Google Search. As far as I can tell I’ve done the right thing but I can still login.

root@infra:~# cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config  | grep PermitRootLogin
PermitRootLogin no
# the setting of "PermitRootLogin yes
root@infra:~#

Restarting ssh returns no errors, etc.

root@infra:~# service ssh restart
root@infra:~#

PasswordAuthentication is also set to no (although root never had a password – started with a pub key installation) and for good measure UsePAM is set to no.

Love any suggestions!

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Chris McKulka • April 6, 2019
Accepted Answer

FYI re. a solution. Restarting the service didn’t cause the new settings to take effect. Rebooting the server did. No idea why that is the case.

alexdo
Site Moderator
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• February 25, 2022

Hello,

By default on new Ubuntu servers, the PermitRootLogin is set to yes. So you can search only for PermitRootLogin in the sshd_config.

To disable root login you have to change this line:

PermitRootLogin yes

To:

PermitRootLogin no

However keep in mind that by default, on Ubuntu, password authentication is already set to no:

PasswordAuthentication no

Once you make a change to the sshd_conf file you need to also restart the SSH service:

systemctl restart sshd

Hope that this helps!

salah93 • August 3, 2019

for me, i had

   ControlMaster auto
   ControlPath ~/.ssh/sockets/%r@%h-%p

set in my ~/.ssh/config deleting the control path directory fixed the issu