Can’t log in over SSH as root after deleting Imunify

Symptoms

• Can't log in as root over SSH after removing Imunify from the server

  Access denied
  Permission denied

• This is logged to /var/log/messages

  hostname crond[30531]: PAM unable to dlopen(/usr/lib64/security/pam_imunify.so): /usr/lib64/security/pam_imunify.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

• CRON jobs fail to run, with these errors in /var/log/cron

  crond[28816]: (root) PAM ERROR (Module is unknown)
  crond[28816]: (root) FAILED to authorize user with PAM (Module is unknown)

• Plesk notifications won't send after Daily Maintenance

Cause

Misconfiguration caused by leftovers from the Imunify extension in /etc/pam.d/system-auth and /etc/pam.d/password-auth.

Resolution

Remove the configuration lines from these files.

1. Log in to Plesk

2. Install the SSH Terminal extension and open it to access the system files

3. Edit /etc/pam.d/system-auth and /etc/pam.d/password-auth by commenting these lines

   #%PAM-1.0

   #auth required pam_imunify.so check_only

   #auth required pam_imunify.so