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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Do you have an ssh key authorising your logins? If so, ssh key auths override the PermitRootLogin function. Try removing
/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
.I had removed the entire /root/.ssh directory for good measure and root was still able to login.
Now whenever I spool up a new server I just do a restart after updated sshd_config and removing /root/.ssh (the whole thing for good measure).
Once that’s is done all is well.
Really strange.