Linux SSH Connection Refused — Port 22

Overview

SSH 'Connection refused' on port 22 means the SSH server is not running, the port is blocked, or SSH is configured on a different port.

Key Details

• TCP connection to port 22 is actively refused by the target
• Different from 'Connection timed out' which means the port is filtered/blocked
• The SSH daemon (sshd) must be running on the target machine
• Firewall rules may block port 22 even if sshd is running
• SSH may be configured on a non-standard port for security

Common Causes

• SSH server (sshd) not installed or not running
• Firewall (iptables/nftables/ufw) blocking port 22
• SSH configured on a non-standard port
• TCP Wrappers (/etc/hosts.deny) blocking the client IP
• SELinux policy blocking SSH connections

Steps

1. 1Check if sshd is running: systemctl status sshd (or ssh on Debian/Ubuntu)
2. 2Start SSH: sudo systemctl start sshd && sudo systemctl enable sshd
3. 3Check firewall: sudo ufw status or sudo iptables -L -n | grep 22
4. 4Allow SSH through firewall: sudo ufw allow 22 or sudo firewall-cmd --add-service=ssh --permanent
5. 5Check SSH port: grep Port /etc/ssh/sshd_config — connect with ssh -p PORT user@host

Tags

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Frequently Asked Questions