NEW: cannot ssh to my computer

Ivan Georgiev georgiev at vt.edu
Mon Nov 22 21:07:32 PST 2004


> > I guess I have put this
> > -:wheel:ALL EXCEPT LOCAL
> > in /etc/login.access but had no recollection of doing it. After
> > commenting it out the problem is gone.
>
> hello again ivan,
>
> fwiw, your 'problem' may actually be better than your 'solution'.  with
> all the script kiddies who are running ssh brute force attempts against
> the root user account (check your logs), it is wise to use 'su' or
> 'sudo' to elevate your priveleges on that box, rather than logging in
> as root.
>
> naturally, you can harden ssh somewhat and even restrict logins by
> ip addy in login.access, but if you're not doing that, i humbly suggest
> that you think twice about enabling root ssh to your box.

I have "AllowUsers ****" in /etc/ssh/sshd_config and root in not one of them. 
So, even though the members of the wheel group are allowed to ssh remotely, 
the root account is not compromised. Is that right? I tried, just to check, 
to ssh as root but cannot, the log says "User root not allowed because not 
listed in AllowUsers...". Let me know if I am wrong.

Thanks again,
Ivan


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