"UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE!" Error using SSH into Amazon EC2 Instance (AWS)

Question

This is probably a stupidly simple question to some :)

I've created a new linux instance on Amazon EC2, and as part of that downloaded the .pem file to allow me to SSH in.

When I tried to ssh with:

ssh -i myfile.pem <public dns>

I got:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@         WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE!          @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Permissions 0644 for 'amazonec2.pem' are too open.
It is recommended that your private key files are NOT accessible by others.
This private key will be ignored.
bad permissions: ignore key: amazonec2.pem
Permission denied (publickey).

Following this post I tried to chmod +600 the pem file, but now when I ssh I just get:

Permission denied (publickey).

What school-boy error am I making here? The .pem file is in my home folder (in osx). It's permissions look like this:

-rw-------@   1 mattroberts  staff    1696 19 Nov 11:20 amazonec2.pem

Solution 1

The problem is having wrong mod on the file.

Easily solved by executing -

chmod 400 mykey.pem

Taken from Amazon's instructions -

Your key file must not be publicly viewable for SSH to work. Use this command if needed: chmod 400 mykey.pem

400 protects it by making it read only and only for the owner.

Solution 2

You are likely using the wrong username to login, because—

• Most Ubuntu images have a user ubuntu
• Amazon's AMI is ec2-user
• Most Debian images have either root or admin

To login, you need to adjust your ssh command:

ssh -l USERNAME_HERE -i .ssh/yourkey.pem public-ec2-host

Solution 3

I know this is very late to the game ... but this always works for me:

step 1

ssh-add ~/.ssh/KEY_PAIR_NAME.pem

step 2, simply ssh in :)

ssh user_name@<instance public dns/ip>

e.g.

ssh [email protected]

hope this helps someone.

Solution 4

Ok man, the only thing that worked for me was:

1. Change permissions of the key

   chmod 400 mykey.pem

2. Make sure to log in using ec2-user, and the correct ec2-99... address. The ec2-99 address is at the bottom of the aws console when you're logged in and seeing your instance listed

   ssh -i mykey.pem [email protected]

Solution 5

Take a look at this article. You do not use the public DNS but rather the form

ssh -i your.pem [email protected]

where the name is visible on your AMI panel

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