putty -> openssh error: Server refused our key.

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

I'm trying to connect from my work computer (windows) to my home computer (gentoo) using key authentication. I generated the keys using puttygen following this guide (http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/cscf/howto/ssh/public_key/#putty). It was working, but then I broke it by screwing with the permissions of my home directory (sshd was complaining about permissions in the logs).

I fixed the permissions (the error doesn't appear in the logs anymore) but, when I try to log in using putty and the key file, it says "Server refused our key." and makes me type in the password. I can log in when I type in the password, but want it to be able to accept my key so that I can automate various file transfers. Is there anything else I should check?

Here's the output of stat for my home directory:

magic919 · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:07 pm Post subject:

I'd be tempted to regenerate the keys before digging too deep. You could change ownership of .ssh dir to match user:users, rather than user:root. Mine is like that and mode 600.

You can restart sshd with -d [1-3] to increase verbosity of logging to see what is happening.

daeghrefn · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 112

According to my system, the /home/user directory is set to 755 user:users, the /home/user/.ssh directory is set to 600 user:users, and the /home/user/.ssh/authorized_keys file is set to 600 user:users.

I use PuTTY to get into my system all the time.

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

Bah! I tried to startup sshd with the -d option but, by coincoidence, I happen to be getting hit with an sshd worm ATM and sshd shuts down after each failed connection when using the -d option. I'll have to wait a bit before I give it another shot. I also changed the permissions to your suggestions but that hasn't worked. I already tried regenerating the keys but I might as well try again.

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

Here's the output of sshd -d when I try to login:

magic919 · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject:

It says it is trying the key and failing it. Might be worth trying higher d level (3 is max) to see if you get any more data.

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

Thanks.. There's a lot of output, this looks like the most important part. Here's the output of sshd -ddd

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

Yep, regenerating the keys worked this time.. Thanks

magic919 · Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject:

Excellent. Glad it all worked out. And we all get to see some stuff and learn along the way. Maybe you could mark [SOLVED]

bigbob73 · Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:28 pm Post subject:

machinelou · Apprentice Joined: 05 Apr 2003 Posts: 267

Yes -- I think.. I read in another thread here that the permissions of .ssh have to be specific otherwise it might not actually be you logging in, just someone with enough permissions to fiddle with your .ssh directory.

bigbob73 · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:00 pm Post subject:

daeghrefn · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 02 Jan 2005 Posts: 112

yeah, sshd will not accept a key if the permissions on /home/user/.ssh and contained files are not correct.

bigbob73 · Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 6:05 pm Post subject:

[quote="daeghrefn"]yeah, sshd will not accept a key if the permissions on /home/user/.ssh and contained files are not correct.