Without root user login, the attacker would have to guess not only the password to the user but also the username (hopefully it’s not something simple like admin), and once you are logged in you can use sudo -i to chage into root, which will require a password, therefore, we also disable password login so if someone does manage to somehow compromise the SSH user, they’d still need the password to become root.
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7EP6vuI@feddit.org 13 hours agowhy no root login? how do you become root if you need it?
Guiorgy@lemmy.ml 7 hours ago
lewy@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
sudo -iis what I would do orsu rootif your other user is not a superuser.
lntl@lemmy.ml 13 hours ago
IMO there’s no reason to permit root login via ssh in any circumstance, ever, in all cases, absolutely.
For all the people thinking, “well the world doesn’t work in absolutes, there’s always a special case!” There isn’t.
If a user needs to use elevated permissions, there are many ways to do that without exposing root. sudo(8) is one way to do that.
DougPiranha42@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Thanks for the great explanation! Seems like because logging in as root is never necessary and indeed never done; people confuse sudoer for root login.
7EP6vuI@feddit.org 12 hours ago
do you use sudo with a password? this and the unknown username is what get as additional security then?