Ubuntu – How to Fix SSH Connection Refused

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I was logged into my server earlier today, and now when i go to SSH i get the error "SSH Connection Refused" i'm running Ubuntu Hardy. The server is still working, and serving web-pages i just cannot get in. Last time i was on the server, i didn't change any of the iptables. Is there anyway to troubleshoot this issue? Update: I do have access to a browser based console to the server. Though it is painfully slow, i can investigate further.

Update: It looks like ssh isn't running on my port when i use lsof. I ran sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart and nothing happens, and still nothing is running on my ssh port. When i check /var/log/auth.log i get:

sudo: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for xxxx root by yyyy(uid=0)
sudo: pam_unix(sudo:session): session closed for user xxxx by yyyy(uid=0)

which looks like it is opening then immediately closing the session.

Best Answer

I would suggest the following in addition to the answers already present. Ensure you have some way to restore you're firewall after carefully checking its ruleset.

Disclaimer: if this device is an internet facing machine, this will drop all firewall protection from all interfaces, and could lead to your box getting owned.

# iptables --flush
# iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT
# iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
# iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
# /etc/init.d/openssh-server restart

Then retry connection via ssh, if that fails check /var/log/auth.log.

You can also use

# lsof -i TCP:22

to see if the ssh port is opened and what IP address it's listening on.

edit: re: update, that doesn't appear to be ssh related (it seems to be in relation to sudo privilege elevation.

try tail -f /var/log/auth.log while attempting to connect via ssh.

Connection refused mean that the connection was explicitly rejected by either a firewall or the daemon it's self.

A normal connection would look something like this:

Mar 23 13:32:32 <hostname> sshd[20100]: Accepted password for <user> from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx port xxxxx ssh2
Mar 23 13:32:32 <hostname> sshd[20102]: (pam_unix) session opened for user <user> by (uid=0)

While an authentication failure will look like this:

Mar 23 13:35:54 <hostname> sshd[20177]: Failed password for <user> from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx port xxxxx ssh2

If it were blocked by sshd for some reason, that will be eluded to in the auth log, if it were blocked by the firewall (note the firewall may be on the host, client or somewhere in between) you'll see nothing.

Get back to us if that's the case, from there it'll be tcp dump on the client, server and any intermediary routers.

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