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SSH authentication for user with public key fails host key verification

  1. Last updated
    Feb 3, 2025
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Last Updated:
2/3/2025, 11:11:50 PM

Applies to

  • ONTAP 9
  • SSH public key authentication

Issue

SSH public key access fails with a message similar to the following:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is
SHA256:4QsaJ3jPOyUSBmqc7Ltk2xtmSuFivY+pBKChcMXSIy4.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending ECDSA key in /.ssh/known_hosts:21
ECDSA host key for x.x.x.x has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed

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