Question
PermitRootLogin no still allows root login via SSH
- Posted on April 1, 2019
- Ubuntu 18.04Initial Server Setup
Asked by Chris McKulka
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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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.
Try to check files in /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/* Maybe there are directives “PermitRootLogin yes” there
Hello,
By default on new Ubuntu servers, the
PermitRootLoginis set toyes. So you can search only forPermitRootLoginin thesshd_config.To disable root login you have to change this line:
To:
However keep in mind that by default, on Ubuntu, password authentication is already set to
no:Once you make a change to the
sshd_conffile you need to also restart the SSH service:Hope that this helps!