Fix “WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED” Error In Linux

Today, I tried to SSH into my remote Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server and encountered with this message - WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!.

$ ssh ostechnix@192.168.225.52

Sample output:

@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!     @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by the remote host is
SHA256:K/jEKNQCYYOilJxOZc7qAWlu4xu0nW+MD09DfJL7+gc.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /home/sk/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending ECDSA key in /home/sk/.ssh/known_hosts:11
  remove with:
  ssh-keygen -f "/home/sk/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "192.168.225.52"
ECDSA host key for 192.168.225.52 has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.

Error - WARNING REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED

This is actually not an error message. It is just a security notification that indicates the ECDSA host key for the given remote system has changed since you last connected. As you might already know, when we access a remote system for the first time from a local system via SSH, a fingerprint for the ECDSA key sent by that remote host is cached and stored in $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts file in our local system.

When the identity (fingerprint) has changed after you reinstalled the remote system or assigned a same IP address for multiple remote systems, the above warning message shows up.

Fix "WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED" error in Linux

To fix this issue, simply remove the cached key for the IP address on the local system using command:

$ ssh-keygen -R 192.168.225.52

Sample output:

# Host 192.168.225.52 found: line 11
/home/sk/.ssh/known_hosts updated.
Original contents retained as /home/sk/.ssh/known_hosts.old

Fix "WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED" Error In Linux

You can also explicitly specify the path of the known_hosts file with -f flag like below.

$ ssh-keygen -f "/home/sk/.ssh/known_hosts" -R "192.168.225.52"

The above command will delete all keys belonging to remote host from the known_hosts file of the local system. And also the old contents of the known_hosts file will be retained in a file named "known_hosts.old".

If you use different SSH port, you need to explicitly mention it like below:

$ ssh-keygen -R 192.168.225.52:1234

Here, 1234 is the SSH port number. Replace it with your actual SSH port number.

After removing the keys, try again to SSH into the remote system using command:

$ ssh ostechnix@192.168.225.52

Type "yes" and hit ENTER to add the remote host key in your local system:

The authenticity of host '192.168.225.52 (192.168.225.52)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:K/jEKNQCYYOilJxOZc7qAWlu4xu0nW+MD09DfJL7+gc.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.225.52' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
ostechnix@192.168.225.52's password:

Now you can able to access the remote system via SSH.