[Bug 543767] Re: ssh logins doesn't show the MOTD when connecting with public key authorisation

[Nish Aravamudan]

I'm sort of confused by the bug report.

Here are the relevant snippets from the man-pages:


          UsePAM  Enables the Pluggable Authentication Module interface.  If set to
             ``yes'' this will enable PAM authentication using
             ChallengeResponseAuthentication and PasswordAuthentication in
             addition to PAM account and session module processing for all
             authentication types.

             Because PAM challenge-response authentication usually serves an
             equivalent role to password authentication, you should disable
             either PasswordAuthentication or ChallengeResponseAuthentication.

             If UsePAM is enabled, you will not be able to run sshd(8) as a
             non-root user.  The default is ``no'

...

     PrintMotd
             Specifies whether sshd(8) should print /etc/motd when a user logs
             in interactively.  (On some systems it is also printed by the
             shell, /etc/profile, or equivalent.)  The default is ``yes''

...


PrintMotd *only* is documented as controlling interactive logins. I believe all affected users so far have indicated (if at all) they are using key-based authentication, which is unaffected by PrintMotd's setting either way.

UsePAM, on the other hand, displays the MOTD because /etc/pam.d/sshd
contains (on 16.04, at least) by default:

# Print the message of the day upon successful login.
# This includes a dynamically generated part from /run/motd.dynamic
# and a static (admin-editable) part from /etc/motd.
session    optional     pam_motd.so  motd=/run/motd.dynamic
session    optional     pam_motd.so noupdate

and PAM is managing the ssh login session when so configured for sshd.

At this point, I think it's not a bug, and I'm marking it as invalid.
Please reopen as new with justification if you feel this is incorrect.

** Changed in: openssh (Ubuntu)
       Status: Confirmed => Invalid

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to openssh in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/543767

Title:
  ssh logins doesn't show the MOTD when connecting with public key
  authorisation

Status in Ubuntu Server papercuts:
  Incomplete
Status in openssh package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  This is merely a minor annoyance, but nonetheless worth a bug report
  for the servers papercut team:

  The method to display a MOTD described in the official Ubuntu server
  guide, chapter 22 (https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/serverguide/C/update-
  motd.html) doesn't work as soon as you connect with public key
  authorisation.

  Connecting /w password only shows the MOTD correctly.

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/server-papercuts/+bug/543767/+subscriptions