Question

Setting up SSH with 2FA via Microsoft Authenticator

Posted on May 28, 2025
SSH
Asked by Dylan Gadwa

Our organization uses Microsoft Authenticator and I need to use ssh/SCP via FireZilla.

I’ve found the documentation: How To Set Up Multi-Factor Authentication for SSH on Ubuntu 18.04 which seems promising.

However, Step 1 refers to “Installing Google’s PAM”. My research into whether or not there will be compatibility issues leads me to think “probably not” but before I run this procedure, is anyone able to verify whether or not there are any compatibility issues with Google’s PAM when using MS Authenticator?

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alexdo

Site Moderator

• May 30, 2025

Heya,

I believe that Google’s PAM module (libpam-google-authenticator) works with Microsoft Authenticator. There’s no compatibility issue because the module implements TOTP (Time-based One-Time Passwords), which is an open standard. Microsoft Authenticator fully supports TOTP, so it works seamlessly with the codes generated by Google’s PAM.

If you’re using SSH keys and MFA, make sure your /etc/ssh/sshd_config is configured to support both (e.g., AuthenticationMethods publickey,keyboard-interactive)

Regards