Securing SSH - Turning Off? Effects?

[JakeBikeIT]

Hi Guys,

I need to add a little more security to a backup system running contained in Proxmox.

The GUI off the systems are secured with OTP MFA. Great.

However one assumed you can still SSH into these boxes with un-pw combinations - is it safe just to turn off the SSH daemon?

 

[mgabriel]

The Proxmox VE Node doesn't care if ssh is active on your VMs or not.

May it be an option to use key-based authentication only and don't allow logins using passwords?

 

[shanreich]

If you don't want to turn it off completely, you could also think about securing SSH with 2FA

 

[gfngfn256]

Are you concerned of the VM's SSH being open, or of the host PVE's SSH being open? I believe both can be blocked.

 

[JakeBikeIT]

SSH on the host - turn that off so no one can control, damage, destroy the host config without the OTP ... Sorry I wasn't clear!

 

[mgabriel]

ssh on the host must not be disabled. Protect it by using ssh keys for logins and prohibit logins with passwords and/or use the built-in firewall to protect your host.

 

[wrobelda]

ssh on the host must not be disabled. Protect it by using ssh keys for logins and prohibit logins with passwords

Has something changed in this regard? I remember this was not an option and a password login was required, if I remember correctly by the cluster middleware, even when running in a single host setup?

 

[BobhWasatch]

Has something changed in this regard? I remember this was not an option and a password login was required, if I remember correctly by the cluster middleware, even when running in a single host setup?

I don't know about that but I am running a single node with key-only ssh logins and it is fine. I'm pretty sure the cluster SW uses keys as well, not passwords.

 

[Azunai333]

I'm pretty sure the cluster SW uses keys as well, not passwords.

Yes, but the GUI cluster join asks for a root password. Maybe it is needed only at cluster join?

 

[LnxBil]

Yes, but the GUI cluster join asks for a root password. Maybe it is needed only at cluster join?

AFAIK, this is still the case.

ssh on the host must not be disabled. Protect it by using ssh keys for logins and prohibit logins with passwords and/or use the built-in firewall to protect your host.

This!

I can also recommend to not use root as your daily driver and have PVE internal, OpenID or LDAP/AD users that normally don't have a backing PAM account, so they cannot login via SSH.