Two-Factor Authentication (2FA/MFA) for Linux SSH
Linux 2FA SSH module provides a secure way to login into the linux desktop logins, remote or local linux SSH servers that enhance the
security and makes the brute force attacks more difficult. Two-factor Authentication for SSH adds an extra layer of security to increase the identity assurance and reduce risk and exposure. The users will use their existing credentials
(username and password) as their first factor and then they will be prompted for entering the configured second factor type. miniOrange can connect to the on-premise AD (Active Directory) so that user will use their AD credentials to authenticate themselves. miniOrange Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
module can be installed on Linux operating systems to add Two-Factor or Multi-Factor authentication on the top of local and Remote login.
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Step by step guide to enable Linux MFA / 2FA (Two/Multi Factor Authentication)
1. Adding app and policy for 2FA
- Login into miniOrange Admin Console.
- Go to Apps. Click on Add Application button.
- In Choose Application Type click on Create App button in Desktop application type.
- Click on Linux/Unix.
- Add App Name.
- Select Login Method as Password and Enable 2-Factor Authentication (MFA).
1.2. Select 2FA options
- Go to 2-Factor Authentication >> Choose 2FA Options for End User.
- Disable the methods you don’t want your users to configure or use for MFA
Note: Currently miniOrange only supports TOTP Methods (OTP OVER SMS, OTP OVER EMAIL, GOOGLE AUTHENTICATOR, MICROSOFT AUTHENTICATOR, AUTHY AUTHENTICATOR, YubiKey HARDWARE TOKEN ) for linux MFA.
2. Setup miniOrange 2FA/MFA Provider for SFTP/SSH
- Download the script from here.
- Give the execute permissions to the script via running below command in the terminal.
chmod a+x .miniorange_mfa.sh
- Run below command for 2FA configuration in the terminal as root user
./miniorange_mfa install
- You will be asked for some configuration details. To fill in these details, login to your miniOrange admin account on Cloud or Onpremise.
- Click on the Settings icon on top right and select Product Settings.
- Copy the Customer Key and API key.
- Now, Go to Apps and copy the name of the Linux application created in step 1.
- Paste all these details in the terminal and press enter.
3. Setup SSH File Configuration
- Take the backup of /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. Run below command as root user.
cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.backup
- Make the following changes in sshd_config file
ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes
UsePAM yes
AuthenticationMethods publickey keyboard-interactive
- Save the changes. And restart the SSH service.
sudo service sshd restart
4. Setup PAM file configuration
- First backup the sshd file. Run below command in terminal as root user
cp /etc/pam.d/sshd /etc/pam.d/sshd.config
- Add following line in /etc/pam.d/sshd
auth sufficient pam_google_authenticator.so user=root secret=/etc/.miniorange_configuration nullok debug
5. Test Multifactor Solution
- If you open a SSH connection to this server, if correct password is provided, it should prompt for 2FA.
- If you open a SFTP connection to this server, if correct password is provided, it should prompt for 2FA.
6. Configure Your User Directory (Optional)
miniOrange provides user authentication from various external sources, which can be Directories (like ADFS, Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, OpenLDAP, Google, AWS Cognito etc), Identity Providers (like Okta, Shibboleth, Ping, OneLogin, KeyCloak), Databases (like MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL) and many more. You can configure your existing directory/user store or add users in miniOrange.
- Click on External Directories >> Add Directory in the left menu of the dashboard.
- Select Directory type as AD/LDAP.
- STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION IN MINIORANGE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in miniOrange. If active directory is behind a firewall, you will need to open the firewall to allow incoming requests to your AD.
- STORE LDAP CONFIGURATION ON PREMISE: Choose this option if you want to keep your configuration in your premise and only allow access to AD inside premises. You will have to download and install miniOrange gateway in your premise.
- Enter LDAP Display Name and LDAP Identifier name.
- Select Directory Type as Active Directory.
- Enter the LDAP Server URL or IP Address against LDAP Server URL field.
- Click on Test Connection button to verify if you have made a successful connection with your LDAP server.
- In Active Directory, go to the properties of user containers/OU's and search for Distinguished Name attribute.
- Enter the valid Bind account Password.
- Click on Test Bind Account Credentials button to verify your LDAP Bind credentials for LDAP connection.
- Search Base is the location in the directory where the search for a user begins. You will get this from the same place you got your Distinguished name.
- Select a suitable Search filter from the drop-down menu. If you use User in Single Group Filter or User in Multiple Group Filter, replace the <group-dn> in the search filter with the distinguished name of the group in which your users are present. To use custom Search Filter select "Write your Custom Filter" option and customize it accordingly.
- You can also configure following options while setting up AD. Enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP. Click on the Save button to add user store.
Here's the list of the attributes and what it does when we enable it. You can enable/disable accordingly.
| Attribute |
Description |
| Activate LDAP |
All user authentications will be done with LDAP credentials if you Activate it |
| Sync users in miniOrange |
Users will be created in miniOrange after authentication with LDAP |
| Fallback Authentication |
If LDAP credentials fail then user will be authenticated through miniOrange |
| Allow users to change password |
This allows your users to change their password. It updates the new credentials in your LDAP server |
| Enable administrator login |
On enabling this, your miniOrange Administrator login authenticates using your LDAP server |
| Show IdP to users |
If you enable this option, this IdP will be visible to users |
| Send Configured Attributes |
If you enable this option, then only the attributes configured below will be sent in attributes at the time of login |
- Click on Save. After this, it will show you the list of User stores. Click on Test Connection to check whether you have enter valid details. For that, it will ask for username and password.
- On Successful connection with LDAP Server, a success message is shown.
- Click on Test Attribute Mapping.
- Enter a valid Username. Then, click on Test. Mapped Attributes corresponding to the user are fetched.
- After successful Attribute Mapping Configuration, go back to the ldap configuration and enable Activate LDAP in order to authenticate users from AD/LDAP.
Refer our guide to setup LDAPS on windows server.
User Import and Provisioning from AD
- Go to Settings >> Product Settings in the Customer Admin Account.
- Enable the "Enable User Auto Registration" option and click Save.
- (Optional) To send a welcome email to all the end users that will be imported, enable the "Enable sending Welcome Emails after user registration" option and click Save.
- From the Left-Side menu of the dashboard select Provisioning.
- In Setup Provisioning tab select Active Directory in the Select Application drop-down.
- Toggle the Import Users tab, click on Save button.
- On the same section, switch to Import Users section.
- Select Active Directory from the dropdown and click on the Import Users tab, to import all the users from Active Directory to miniOrange.
- You can view all the Users you have imports by selecting Users >> User List from Left Panel.
- All the imported users will be auto registered.
- These groups will be helpful in adding multiple 2FA policies on the applications.
miniOrange integrates with various external user sources such as directories, identity providers, and etc.
Further References
