Can a user with /sbin/nologin shell login through ssh?

Question

Is it possible to ssh to a machine as a user with no valid shell (say, mail)? So far I cannot, and using the command below doesn't work:

$ ssh [email protected] /bin/bash

It will always say "This account is currently not available.". But if I'm logged-in to the machine and use 'su'

$ su mail -s /bin/bash

I can become user mail.

Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-18 09:33:21Z

5

The command passed to ssh is run by the shell on the server, so if no valid shell is specified then it is not possible to run it.

answered Mar 18, 2011 at 9:33

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@Ignacio: Makes sense...but are there any known workaround to this?
– icasimpan
Commented Mar 18, 2011 at 9:37
1

You could use a key and put an entry in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys to allow executing a different command.
– Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
Commented Mar 18, 2011 at 9:38
1

@Ignacio: I fail to see how adding another way to authorize a user changes the shell being launched on login. And if mail has no $HOME, where would you put a key?
– alex
Commented Mar 18, 2011 at 15:28
@Alex: mail has a $HOME it's /var/spool/mail. So I tried @Ignacio's suggestion to put an ssh key but it's not being accepted by the server.
– icasimpan
Commented Mar 23, 2011 at 4:07

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