sshd service is unable to start

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • sshd.service is failing with the following error:
[root@example]# systemctl status sshd.service -l
● sshd.service - OpenSSH server daemon
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sshd.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2023-05-08 05:23:19 EDT; 11s ago
     Docs: man:sshd(8)
           man:sshd_config(5)
  Process: 74696 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sshd -D $OPTIONS $CRYPTO_POLICY (code=exited, status=255)
 Main PID: 74696 (code=exited, status=255)

May 08 05:23:19 example systemd[1]: sshd.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a
May 08 05:23:19 example systemd[1]: sshd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
May 08 05:23:19 example systemd[1]: Failed to start OpenSSH server daemon.

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • openssh

Subscriber exclusive content

A Red Hat subscription provides unlimited access to our knowledgebase, tools, and much more.

Current Customers and Partners

Log in for full access

Log In

New to Red Hat?

Learn more about Red Hat subscriptions

Using a Red Hat product through a public cloud?

How to access this content