Bug ID 510979: Password-less SSH access after tmsh load of UCS may require password after install.

Last Modified: Sep 13, 2023

Affected Product(s):
BIG-IP All(all modules)

Known Affected Versions:
11.5.1 HF1, 11.5.1 HF2, 11.5.1 HF3, 11.5.1 HF4, 11.5.1 HF5, 11.5.1 HF6, 11.5.1 HF7, 11.5.1 HF8, 11.5.1 HF9, 11.5.1 HF10, 11.5.1 HF11, 11.5.2 HF1, 11.5.3 HF1, 11.5.3 HF2, 11.5.4 HF1, 11.1.0, 11.2.0, 11.2.1, 11.3.0, 11.4.0, 11.4.1, 11.6.0, 11.6.1, 11.6.2, 11.6.3, 11.6.3.1, 11.6.3.2, 11.6.3.3, 11.6.3.4, 11.6.4, 11.6.5, 11.6.5.1, 11.6.5.2, 11.6.5.3, 12.1.0 HF1, 12.1.0 HF2, 12.1.1 HF1, 12.1.1 HF2, 12.1.2 HF1, 12.1.2 HF2

Fixed In:
12.0.0, 11.6.0 HF6, 11.5.4 HF2

Opened: Mar 06, 2015

Severity: 2-Critical

Related Article: K17318

Symptoms

Should an account such as admin have password-less SSH access, after loading the UCS config or doing a live install and moving the config, SSH access no longer works without a password.

Impact

tmsh load sys ucs config replaces the uid ownership of /home/user_name/.ssh/authorized_keys incorrectly, which prevents SSH access without passwords.

Conditions

User has .ssh/authorized_keys file owned with uid=0.

Workaround

Create a directory in /var/ssh for each user, move .ssh/authorized_keys there, and then link to the moved file in the ~/.ssh directory. In that case, UCS load affects the link, but not the linked file, so password-less SSH access is maintained. Note: A UCS file taken after the workaround will not include the file /var/ssh/<username>/authorized_keys. If you have a plan to load the UCS on a different unit, for example, for the purposes of RMA, please save the file individually.

Fix Information

Password-less SSH access is now maintained after tmsh load (or install and move config) of UCS.

Behavior Change

Guides & references

K10134038: F5 Bug Tracker Filter Names and Tips