Cannot ssh into a Hetzner cloud server

[HMS_Endeavour]

When I ssh root@ it does not prompt for a password any longer, it just does a line feed.

I created a new key pair RSA 4096 and pasted the cat of the public key to Hetzner’s SSL console. I still does not prompt for a password.

Also I can use Hetzner’s ugly

illegible console inside the cloud account, so I can definitely access it.

Has any Hetzner user experienced this? What can I do to troubleshoot it, since I can ssh into other servers without an issue? I also tried creating an ED25519 key pair wit the same results. I have OpenSSH_9.3p1, OpenSSL 3.1.1 30 May 2023
Any ideas please.

[dalto]

Take a look in /etc/ssh/sshd_config and check the setting for PermitRootLogin. By default, using a password is not allowed.

[HMS_Endeavour]

It is presently set to
PermitRootLogin without-password

[dalto]

@HMS_Endeavour

PermitRootLogin without-password

That means you won’t get prompted for a password. You can only login with keys or some other auth method.

If you want to allow remote root password login, set it to yes. I might point out that this is not a good idea from a security perspective. Realistically, you shouldn’t be logging in as root remotely. You should login as a normal user and then escalate to root.

[HMS_Endeavour]

I agree with you, but we don’t have anythig important on it, it is just for testing.

[dalto]

I don’t really think that matters but it is your box. Either way, if that is what you want, you need to change that setting and restart sshd

[HMS_Endeavour]

I did a restart sshd and got the same.

[dalto]

Can you share the output from this:

cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep -i permitroot    

[HMS_Endeavour]

PermitRootLogin yes
# the setting of "PermitRootLogin without-password".

[HMS_Endeavour]

@dalto

I don’t really think that matters … if that is what you want,

Yes I agree @dalto, using root is not respecting security protocols. I changed to the standard user with sudo. Thank you.