OpenSSH Debian Wheezy with Google Authenticator and Pubkey.

This set up requires OpenSSH 6.6 or greater

Add wheezy-backports

  • sudo su
  • echo 'deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ wheezy-backports main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/wheezy-packports.list
  • apt-get update

Install openssh and google authenticator for PAM

  • apt-get install openssh-server libpam-google-authenticator -y


Configure PAM
edit /etc/pam.d/sshd and add the following line before @include common-auth
auth sufficient pam_google_authenticator.so

Configure SSH
Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config by changing the following values

  • ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes
  • PubkeyAuthentication yes

Add this line too:

  • AuthenticationMethods publickey,keyboard-interactive

Restart ssh

  • service ssh restart


Bypass google authenticator for trusted network or host, will still need public key or password
Add these lines at the end of /etc/ssh/sshd_config (keep indentation)

  • Match Address IP_ADDRESS/CIDR
  •     AuthenticationMethods publickey

Restart ssh

  • service ssh restart

For greater security, also require the user's password to log in - modify:


  • edit /etc/pam.d/sshd and add the following line before @include common-auth
  • auth required pam_google_authenticator.so






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