[SOLVED] SSH authentication Failure

zeeper · 02-02-2012, 05:04 PM

I am running RHEL with SSH Server configured for remote access.
Recently when I tried to login from MAC terminal, I got error "too many authentication failure for user abcd@abcd-system : disonnected"
however, when I login using same prefrences from windows using Putty, It works fine.
for both cases I am using password for login, not keys..! so increasing no. of authentication tries wont work....
I am stuck, Please help me out of this
Thanks In advance.

anomie · 02-02-2012, 05:50 PM

On the RHEL server, what does /var/log/secure say about the failures?

zeeper · 02-03-2012, 02:30 AM

when I login from MAC terminal /var/log/secure says:
"Feb 2 09:43:56 adcd-system sshd[1737]: Disconnecting: Too many authentication failures for abcd"
but after that when I connected using Putty terminal, it says:
"Feb 2 09:47:39 abcd-system sshd[1740]: Accepted password for abcd from 192.168.22.200 port 5130 ssh2
Feb 2 09:47:39 abcd-system sshd[1740]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session opened for user abcd by (uid=0)"

anomie · 02-03-2012, 10:22 AM

When you say "MAC terminal", are you referring to the OSX Terminal app?

If so, it sounds like you may have configured it to automatically log in as the user (and with the wrong password).

zeeper · 02-03-2012, 10:38 AM

Yes I am using OSX terminal app.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anomie

When you say "MAC terminal", are you referring to the OSX Terminal app?

If so, it sounds like you may have configured it to automatically log in as the user (and with the wrong password).

I do not know if had mistakenly configured it for automatic login with username and password ....
How to fix it now...!besides, I write the ssh command with username to connect

when I login, connection dies even does not ask for password ....saying 'too many authentication failures':session closed.
I have also set the RHEL ssh server to accept login attempt using password only.
Still the same problem.

anomie · 02-06-2012, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeeper

for both cases I am using password for login, not keys..! so increasing no. of authentication tries wont work.

Stepping back a moment to this comment -- I don't follow your logic here. What do you currently have MaxAuthTries set to in sshd_config(5)?

zeeper · 02-06-2012, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anomie

Stepping back a moment to this comment -- I don't follow your logic here. What do you currently have MaxAuthTries set to in sshd_config(5)?

although It was set to default value earlier but now I have commented 'MaxAuthTries' in sshd_config
but still unable to login

anomie · 02-06-2012, 10:49 AM

For grins, on the client side try:

Code:

$ ssh -o 'PasswordAuthentication yes' user@host_here

zeeper · 02-07-2012, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anomie

For grins, on the client side try:

Code:

$ ssh -o 'PasswordAuthentication yes' user@host_here

Still the same problem, too many authentication failures....

zeeper · 02-08-2012, 11:07 AM

I have solved my problem by running the command in Verbose mode
ssh -v -p abcd@abcd-system
verbose output helped me isolate the problem....
Thanks

anomie · 02-08-2012, 04:52 PM

And the problem and its solution was...?

zeeper · 02-09-2012, 03:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anomie

And the problem and its solution was...?

the problem was my SSH agent not presenting the appropriate key for authentication, so after number of tries,when it does not get the desired key it returns error 'too many authentication failures'..
well this is awkward but all the way it is fixed