Topics: AIX, System Admin

PRNG is not SEEDED

If you get a message "PRNG is not SEEDED" when trying to run ssh, you probably have an issue with the /dev/random and/or /dev/urandom devices on your system. These devices are created during system installation, but may sometimes be missing after an AIX upgrade.

Check permissions on random numbers generators, the "others" must have "read" access to these devices: 

# ls -l /dev/random /dev/urandom
crw-r--r-- 1 root system 39, 0 Jan 22 10:48 /dev/random
crw-r--r-- 1 root system 39, 1 Jan 22 10:48 /dev/urandom
If the permissions are not set correctly, change them as follows:
# chmod o+r /dev/random /dev/urandom
Now stop and start the SSH daemon again, and retry if ssh works. 
# stopsrc -s sshd
# startsrc -s sshd
If this still doesn't allow users to use ssh and the same message is produced, or if devices /dev/random and/or /dev/urandom are missing: 
# stopsrc -s sshd
# rm -rf /dev/random
# rm -rf /dev/urandom
# mknod /dev/random c 39 0
# mknod /dev/urandom c 39 1
# randomctl -l
# ls -ald /dev/random /dev/urandom
# startsrc -s sshd




If you found this useful, here's more on the same topic(s) in our blog:


UNIX Health Check delivers software to scan Linux and AIX systems for potential issues. Run our software on your system, and receive a report in just a few minutes. UNIX Health Check is an automated check list. It will report on perfomance, capacity, stability and security issues. It will alert on configurations that can be improved per best practices, or items that should be improved per audit guidelines. A report will be generated in the format you wish, and the report includes the issues discovered and information on how to solve the issues as well.

Interested in learning more?