Why is sshd still allowing password auth despite updating config file?
A simple answer to an interesting symptom
I'll keep this short and sweet: On recent editions of debian linux distributions, you may have noticed that setting PasswordAuthentication no doesn't seem to have any effect when you set it.
That's because high up in the sshd_config file, there's a statement to include additional configs:
Include /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/*.conf
Any settings pulled from this other area overrides conflicting statements in the main sshd_config file.
The solution? Specifically delete the 50-cloud-init.conf file and bounce sshd:
example@foo:~# sudo rm /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/50-cloud-init.conf
example@foo:~# sudo systemctl restart ssh
?
Be sure to examine the 50-cloud-init.conf file for any other non-default parameters that you might want to maintain. In my case, I didn't need anything else but your mileage may vary.
