EC2 Ubuntu Instance - UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE

Question

I just created an Ubuntu instance on EC2, but when I try and SSH into the machine, I get:

UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE!  
permissions 0644 for 'xxxxx.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: xxxxx.pem
Permission denied (publickey).

In creating the key, you only enter a name (without the option of adding a password).

How can I SSH into the machine without this warning popping up?

If you are using WSL, this answer might help you: stackoverflow.com/a/75001941/12326605 — Arpit Jain
– Arpit Jain, Commented Nov 29, 2023 at 5:44

scibuff · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-10 14:53:17Z

80

Private keys must be readable only by the owner ..

Do chmod 400 xxxxx.pem on the machine from which you're connecting

answered Apr 10, 2012 at 14:53

scibuff

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4 Comments

Rafael Motta Over a year ago

I've tried several solutions, and this one works like a charm.

DrHall Over a year ago

When I first downloaded the file I got the OPs error. When I chmod to 400 or 600 I get 'Permission denied (publickey).

Lukas S. Over a year ago

@DrHall make sure you're connecting as the ec2-user: ssh -i /path/to/key.pem [email protected]

oscarz Over a year ago

@arun Use Linux Command line tool. In Ubuntu version of EC2, we need to use ubuntu@ip instead of ec2-user@ip

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