[Bug 2107356] Re: sshd -t check failed when sshd not running

[Renan Rodrigo]

Hello, @jinkangkang, thanks for reaching out and reporting this.

This is the expected behavior for sshd.

If your configuration is not correct, the command will state it as it
should.

If your configuration is correct, no config errors are shown, as sshd is
able to parse the config file. Then, after that, it says the privilege
separation directory is not there, not exactly because you are not
running the daemon, but because you are running sshd as root. The root
user (or kerberos authenticated user) need the dir to be present to be
able to run sshd - you can check that, running as root, this error
happens even without the -t flag.


If your configuration is correct and you run sshd -t as a non-root user, it should work without complaining about the directory.

I am closing this bug as invalid, but please feel free to reopen and add
context if you think something in this flow is wrong.

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

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2107356

Title:
  sshd -t check failed when sshd not running

Status in openssh package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  after stopped ssh service, the sshd -t will check failed, and a error
  reported:  "Missing privilege separation directory: /run/sshd", but
  when there is a invalid configrue in sshd_config, the check is working
  properly

  cat /etc/os-release 
  PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS"
  NAME="Ubuntu"
  VERSION_ID="24.04"
  VERSION="24.04.2 LTS (Noble Numbat)"
  VERSION_CODENAME=noble
  ID=ubuntu
  ID_LIKE=debian
  HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
  SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
  BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
  PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
  UBUNTU_CODENAME=noble
  LOGO=ubuntu-logo 


  
  systemctl stop ssh 

  sshd -t
  Missing privilege separation directory: /run/sshd

  echo "invalid_test" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config

  sshd -t
  /etc/ssh/sshd_config line 127: no argument after keyword "invalid_test"
  /etc/ssh/sshd_config: terminating, 1 bad configuration options

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