Correct SSH Directory Permissions

Owned by Mitch Saba
Last updated: Jan 13, 2022 by Dan Jakubiak
1 min read

Students, faculty and staff can correct SSH directory permissions on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. 

Understanding the Error

Users trying to set up Public-Key Authentication may see the following error in the logs:

Authentication refused: bad ownership or modes for directory

This issue is related to permissions and/or ownership. The following commands on the user account you are trying to set up should fix the problem:

  • chmod go-w ~/

  • chmod 700 ~/.ssh

  • chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

If the commands above do not work, try to run the commands listed below:

  • denyhosts

  • pam system-auth config 

  • your sshd_config

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