ssh keys stopped working after acl used

[dave539]

Hi,

I have several users setup to automatically log in via ssh using the authorized_keys file. This has worked fine in the past. I added an ACL on the user's home directories for special purposes. Basically this allows 1 additional user to create files in those directories. By itself the ACL works just like it is supposed to.

However, the automated logins using keys no longer works. The .ssh directory still have 700 permissions on it. Any ideas how to fix?

[Geek McBean]

Would it not be safer to give the extra user access to a subfolder of the home folders with ACLs? That way you avoid the ACL affecting the permissions on .ssh and other folders that may prevent logons.

[dave539]

I'm going to answer my own question. Fedora has me a bit spoiled. As long as I have had the .ssh directory with 700 permissions everything worked just fine. I added an acl on the parent directory and the authorized_keys file no longer worked. The answer appears to be rather simple. The actual file authorized_keys in the .ssh directory is also supposed to have restricted permissions. In should have 600 in fact.

From what I see, the perms on authorized_keys were not checked before, but since the acl was added, now they are. So one little chmod 600 command and the universe is back in harmony.