Connectrix Brocade B-Series: SSH login with private/public key fails, unable to import public key

When using SSH to log in to a switch with private/public key pairs, it fails and prompts for a password.

Error:

Failed to import public key.

If a public key is imported to a switch running Fabric OS v7.4.1d, v8.0.1, v8.0.1a, or v8.0.1b the file permissions on the file changed to unreadable for the user associated with the file.

Brocade DEFECT000616486

Fix:
Upgrade to Fabric OS 7.4.1e and Fabric OS 8.0.2 or higher.

Workaround:

1. Login as root user and change permissions to 644 for the public key using chmod

2. chmod 644 /fabos/users/admin/.ssh/authorized_keys.*

   If the issue is still persisting, then follow the below steps:

   1. Confirm that "authorized_keys.admin" (the only one) already have 644 permission:

       

      switch:root> ls -pal /fabos/users/admin/.ssh
      total 32
      drwxr-xr-x 2 root admin 4096 Mar 29 11:20 ./
      drwxr-xr-x 3 root admin 4096 Mar 23 09:48 ../
      -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 10240 Mar 28 09:21 authorizedKeys.tar
      -rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 759 Mar 28 09:21 authorized_keys
      -rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 759 Mar 28 09:21 authorized_keys.admin
      -rw-r--r-- 1 root admin 134 Feb 1 01:01 environment

   2. Manually copy the admin's public key to the required location using "root" access to the switch, using the below procedure:
      Once you have the public-key file created on the host for the user admin, for example:

      switch:root> /home/admin/.ssh/id_dsa.pub

      From the host, secure copy (SCP) this over from the host where the public key resides, to the switch, using the following commands - where the switch IP address is given below as xx.xx.xx.xx.

      scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub root@xx.xx.xx.xx:/fabos/users/admin/.ssh/authorized_keys
      scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub root@xx.xx.xx.xx:/fabos/users/admin/.ssh/authorized_keys.admin

      Note: The access to the switch using scp is root@xx.xx.xx.xx

Brocade DEFECT000616486