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K4YT3X's Hardened OpenSSH Server Configuration

This repository hosts my hardened version of OpenSSH server (>=8.5) configuration file. You will need to modify the configuration according to the error messages if you want to use this configuration for older versions of OpenSSH.

Please review the configuration file carefully before applying it. You are responsible for actions done to your own systems.

In addition to this configuration, you may also want to check out the SSH Hardening Guides.

Usages

  1. Download the file sshd_config from the repository
  2. Review the content of the sshd_config file to make sure all settings are suitable for your system
  3. Backup your current /etc/ssh/sshd_config file
  4. Overwrite the old sshd_config file with the downloaded sshd_config file
  5. Run the appropriate command to restart the SSH service (e.g., sudo systemctl restart ssh)
# download the configuration file from GitHub using curl or other methods
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/k4yt3x/sshd_config/master/sshd_config -o ~/sshd_config

# backup the original sshd_config
sudo cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.backup

# replace the old sshd_config with the new one
sudo mv ~/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config

# make sure the file has the correct ownership and permissions
sudo chown root:root /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo chmod 644 /etc/ssh/sshd_config

# use systemctl to reload the SSH server and apply the new configurations
# on some distributions the SSH server service is called sshd
sudo systemctl restart ssh

For convenience, I have pointed the URL https://kt.ax/sshd to the sshd_config file. You may therefore download the sshd_config file with the following command. However, be sure to check the integrity of the file after downloading it if you choose to download using this method.

curl -L kt.ax/sshd -o sshd_config

It's recommended to use the ssh-audit script to check the cryptographic strength of your SSH server after done configuring it.

Deactivating Short Diffie-Hellman Moduli

Diffie-Hellman moduli used for diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 should be at lest 3072 bits long according to Mozilla's OpenSSH server hardening guide. This can be done with the following commands.

# backup original moduli file
cp /etc/ssh/moduli /etc/ssh/moduli.backup

# find lines with moduli >= 3071 bits and save them to moduli.tmp
awk '$5 >= 3071' /etc/ssh/moduli > /etc/ssh/moduli.tmp

# overwrite original moduli file with the updated one
mv /etc/ssh/moduli.tmp /etc/ssh/moduli