[CLUE-Tech] ssh trouble

[David Anselmi]

Jason S. Friedman wrote:
[...]
> root at abigail ~ $ ssh -v charles.powerpull.net
> OpenSSH_3.4p1, SSH protocols 1.5/2.0, OpenSSL 0x0090602f
[...]
> Host key verification failed.
> debug1: Calling cleanup 0x80675a0(0x0)

SSH is checking in /root/.ssh/known_hosts (and some other places, use 
-vvv to see the list of files it checks) and it can't find a key that 
matches the one the remote host is using.

Whether SSH will add a key for a new host (or accept a host key that is 
different than it recorded) is controlled by StrictHostKeyChecking in 
$HOME/.ssh/config or /etc/ssh/ssh_config.  Perhaps that setting is 
different between root and another user.

(There are newer versions of SSH and OpenSSL available.  The ones you're 
using have vulnerabilities (but not necessarily exploits), unless the 
patches have been back ported on your system.  Don't Panic(TM).)

Dave