I had previous problems w/ 2.5.2p2 using password authentication on Mandrake-7.0. I type in my password, and it claims it's invalid, yet I log in via telnet and my password works fine. I enable the --with-pam option within configure. I grabbed the /etc/pam.d/ssh file from my RedHat system and transfered it onto /etc/pam.d Here's what my sshd file looks like: #%PAM-1.0 auth required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so shadow auth required /lib/security/pam_nologin.so account required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so password required /lib/security/pam_cracklib.so password required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so shadow nullok use_authtok session required /lib/security/pam_pwdb.so No errors within my syslog (pam authentication, etc.).