Shell script to automate SSH login using password

Question

I am trying to automate SSH login by using password. I can't use expect command or sshpass etc. So I am left with only option to use password directly. Did lot of research in google and didn't get any solution... :(

Please help me with this.

The code I tried is.

#!/bin/bash
USERNAME=user1
PASSWORD=abcd1234
HOSTS="server01.mat.us"
ssh ${HOSTS} -l ${USERNAME} -p ${PASSWORD}

Kenster · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-17 12:52:45Z

17

The OpenSSH ssh utility doesn't accept a password on the command line or on its standard input. This also applies to the scp and sftp file transfer utilities, which invoke ssh to make the SSH connection. I believe this is a deliberate decision on the part of the OpenSSH developers. You have these options available to you:

Use an SSH key for authentication, instead of a password.
Use sshpass, expect, or a similar tool to invoke ssh through a TTY and automate responding to the password prompt.
Use (abuse) the SSH_ASKPASS feature to get ssh to get the password by running another program, described here or here, or in some of the answers here.
Get the SSH server administrator to enable host-based authentication and use that. Note that host-based authentication is only suitable for certain network environments. See additional notes here and here.
Write your own ssh client using perl, python, java, or your favorite language. There are ssh client libraries available for most modern programming languages, and you'd have full control over how the client gets the password.
Download the ssh source code and build a modified version of ssh that works the way you want.
Use a different ssh client. There are other ssh clients available, both free and commercial. One of them might suit your needs better than the OpenSSH client.

edited Aug 17, 2020 at 12:52

answered Apr 20, 2017 at 18:08

Kenster

25.8k23 gold badges87 silver badges115 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Sankar Over a year ago

Thank you Kenster.... :) But I don't have an option to use SSH key or sshpass or expect etc. so apart from all these do we have any other way to automate the above SSH case?. Please let me know.

salva Over a year ago

Add plink to that list. It can take the password as an argument (even if, from a security stand point, doing so is a very bad idea!)

Kenster Over a year ago

@salva technically, that falls under the "other SSH packages" option. I didn't want to get into recommending/listing the alternative packages that are available. Also, the OP doesn't say what platform he is on.

salva Over a year ago

plink works both in Windows and in Linux/UNIX systems.

user285594 Over a year ago

can you show plink example? everyone is redirecting to this answer, but nobody shared plink sample. There are scenario where remote company do not have budget to setup ssh key based login.

Andrew Preizner · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-29 00:17:10Z

-1

I'd recommend to use ssh keys instead of password if it's possible.

This script can help you to upload your public key to desired remote machine:

https://github.com/aprey10/ssh-authorizer

answered Sep 29, 2019 at 0:17

Andrew Preizner

2641 silver badge5 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Shell script to automate SSH login using password

2 Answers 2

5 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

5 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related