Cybersecurity Triage
Read-only, sensitive outputFind 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' 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 > 600'Before you run this
System impact: Read-only. Output may expose users, paths, tokens, keys, IPs, process arguments, or log details.
When not to use it: Do not chmod files blindly from this list; confirm ownership, platform expectations, and deployment tooling first.
Expected output
Mode and path for authorized_keys files with permissions broader than 600.
System impact
Read-only, sensitive output. Nothing changes. The command lists authorized_keys modes and filters files whose numeric mode is greater than 600.
Recovery / rollback: no state is changed.
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.
next steps
Related commands
Find SSH Key Users with sudo
The highest-priority access review starts where SSH keys and sudo overlap.
comm -12 <(find /home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%h\n' 2>/dev/null | awk -F/ '{print $(NF-1)}' | sort) <(awk -F: '$1=="sudo" {gsub(",","\n",$4); print $4}' /etc/group | sort)
Find SSH Keys for nologin Users
A nologin shell does not automatically mean SSH keys are irrelevant.
comm -12 <(awk -F: '$7 !~ /(bash|sh|zsh)$/ {print $1}' /etc/passwd | sort) <(find /home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%h\n' 2>/dev/null | awk -F/ '{print $(NF-1)}' | sort)
Find Loose Private Key Permissions
SSH private keys should not be readable like ordinary files.
find /home -type f -name 'id_*' -printf '%m %p\n' 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 > 600'
Count authorized_keys by User
authorized_keys is the practical SSH access list.
find /home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -exec sh -c 'for f do user=$(basename "$(dirname "$(dirname "$f")")"); keys=$(grep -vc "^[[:space:]]*#" "$f"); printf "%s %s %s\n" "$user" "$keys" "$f"; done' sh {} + 2>/dev/null | sort
List authorized_keys Files
Authorized keys are the server's practical access list.
find /home -path '*/.ssh/authorized_keys' -printf '%m %p\n' 2>/dev/null
Study mapping
Use this as independent command practice: read the notes, predict the output, then compare it with the example before using a real shell.
Independent study support only. No affiliation, endorsement, exam dumps, or real exam questions.