How To Prevent SSH Root Access

While this is a well know security measure, I still see so many Linux servers that allow root login through SSH that I thought I’d post it here.

Before you make change to your Linux box, make sure that you’ve got a normal user account created otherwise you’ll lock yourself out unless you’ve got physical access to your server. Here’s how you can add a user account through command lines:

# adduser newusername
# passwd newusername

To prevent SSH root login on CentOS 5.1 / RHEL 5, edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config with your favorite file editor:

# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

And find the line that contains:

#PermitRootLogin yes

Uncomment the parameter and set its value to ‘no’:

PermitRootLogin no

Now save the change and exit the editor. Restart sshd service to apply the change.

# service sshd restart

From now on you will not be able to login as root first. You will have to login as a normal user and then become root by issuing:

# su - root

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