SSH public key authentication could bypass your security (PAM) policy

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Even after using Linux for years, you would always learn something new everyday. In this short article, I would talk about how SSH public key authentication could bypass security policy.

Let's start with pluggable authentication module (PAM). By using Linux PAM, the system could use modules to enhance the security of a system. For example, PAM could setup security policy that a password has to meet certain length and complexity. Another use case of the PAM …