SSH authentication for user with public key fails host key verification

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