Cybersecurity Triage

Find Loose authorized_keys Modes

You need to find authorized_keys files with permissions broader than 600.

Command

find home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%m %p\n' | awk '$1 > 600'

What changed

Nothing changes. The command lists authorized_keys modes and filters files whose numeric mode is greater than 600.

Danger

safe

When to use it

Use during SSH access audits or after provisioning user keys to spot loose access-file permissions.

When not to use it

Do not chmod files blindly from this list; confirm ownership, platform expectations, and deployment tooling first.

Undo or recovery

No undo needed because this command is read-only.

Expected output

Mode and path for authorized_keys files with permissions broader than 600.

demo script

Disposable terminal steps

find home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%m %p\n' | sort
find home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%m %p\n' | awk '$1 > 600'

Terminal transcript Demo JSON

simulated output

What it looks like

disposable vessel

::fixture-ready::
$ find home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%m %p\n' | sort
600 home/alice/.ssh/authorized_keys
600 home/deploy/.ssh/authorized_keys
644 home/bob/.ssh/authorized_keys
::exit-code::0
$ find home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%m %p\n' | awk '$1 > 600'
644 home/bob/.ssh/authorized_keys
::exit-code::0

YouTube Short