> Source: [sk180727](https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk180727)

# sk180727 - Local users unable to log in to SSH or Gaia Portal

| Property | Value |
|----------|-------|
| Solution ID | sk180727 |
| Date Created | 2023-03-14 |
| Last Modified | 2025-11-27 |
| Technical Level | Advanced |
| Products | Security Gateway, Security Management Server |
| Versions | R82.10, R82, R81.20, R81.10 (EOS), R82.10, R82, R81.20, R81 (EOS), R81.10 (EOS), R81 (EOS) |
| OS | Gaia |

## Symptoms

- * All local users, whether existing or newly created, are unable to log in to SSH, WebUI or Telnet.

* Remote users (RADIUS, TACACS) are not affected.

* Creating a new local user or changing the password of an existing local user does not resolve the issue.

* Clearing the checkbox for "Deny access after failed login attempts" under "Password policy" does not resolve the issue.

* The contents of the */etc/pam.d/system-auth* file are correct.

* Log entries in the "`/var/log/secure`" file are not descriptive.

  Example:

  `
  Mar 7 08:38:03 2023 <authpriv.notice> MyGaia sshd[219696]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=10.10.10.10 user=testuser`  
  `
  Mar 7 08:38:06 2023 <authpriv.info> MyGaia sshd[219696]: Failed password for testuser from 10.10.10.10 port 59441 ssh2`  
  `
  Mar 7 08:38:11 2023 <authpriv.info> MyGaia sshd[219696]: Connection closed by authenticating user testuser 10.10.10.10 port 59441 [preauth]
  `

## Cause

One of the files the system reads for local user authentication has the immutable attribute. These files may include */etc/passwd* , */etc/shadow* , or files in the */etc/pam.d/* directory.

This change is not done as part of normal functionality of the OS - it may happen in certain scenarios, such as restoring a Gaia snapshot (backup).

## Solution

This solution requires authentication. Please log in to view the full solution.

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