After upgrading to Tahoe 26.3, I'm unable to SSH to any host on my LAN

Question

Level 1

4 points

After upgrading to Tahoe 26.3, I'm unable to SSH to any host on my LAN

After upgrading to Tahoe 26.3, I'm unable to SSH to any host on my LAN. My network configuration was the same before the upgrade. Even though I have a VPN, I can connect via VPN.

MacBook-Pro-13 ~ % sw_vers
ProductName:		macOS
ProductVersion:		26.3
BuildVersion:		25D125

MacBook-Pro-13:~ alex$ ssh 192.168.0.9
ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.9 port 22: Operation timed out

MacBook-Pro-13:~ alex$ ifconfig en0
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
	options=6460<TSO4,TSO6,CHANNEL_IO,PARTIAL_CSUM,ZEROINVERT_CSUM>
	ether xx:06:xx:42:xx:40
	inet6 fe80::1cd8:c46d:20cb:33f5%en0 prefixlen 64 secured scopeid 0xb
	inet 192.168.0.133 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
	nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
	media: autoselect
	status: active

Using the previous version, on another MacBook, I can connect.

~ @ myuser-mac(myuser): sw_vers
ProductName:        macOS
ProductVersion:     26.2
BuildVersion:       25C56
~ @ myuser-mac(myuser): ssh 192.168.0.9
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.0.9' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.
Register this system with Red Hat Insights: rhc connect


[myuser@bastion ~]$
logout
Connection to 192.168.0.9 closed.
~ @ myuser-mac(myuser): ifconfig en0
en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=6460<TSO4,TSO6,CHANNEL_IO,PARTIAL_CSUM,ZEROINVERT_CSUM>
    ether f8:xx:xx:xx:15:xx
    inet6 fe80::14a9:ccf9:a0c3:9743%en0 prefixlen 64 secured scopeid 0xe
    inet 192.168.0.113 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
    nd6 options=201<PERFORMNUD,DAD>
    media: autoselect
    status: active
~ @ myuser-mac(myuser):

Posted on Feb 26, 2026 9:42 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eric BOISSEAU

Level 1

16 points

Mar 16, 2026 4:16 AM in response to Eric BOISSEAU

Hello,

FYI, same issue again with the macOS 26.3.1 update, there was a listener file in /private/tmp/ preventing any connexion to SSH.

The same trick (rm /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners) worked again.

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 25, 2026 3:04 AM in response to Adam van Gaalen

for macOS Tahoe you had to:

rm /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners

for macOS Tahoe 26.4 you should (I don't know if this replaces the old file or not):

rm /var/run/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners

any way, if it fails again in the future, then you can find out what the exact file is by doing ssh like this:

ssh -vvvvvv <destinationhost>

and then wait for the process to get stuck.

The last line will then show the file you need to remove.

Reply

Answer 3

BobHarris

Level 9

57,445 points

Apr 9, 2026 5:14 AM in response to alexgdmx

Does your terminal emulator have Local Network access?

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → <terminal emulator> → enable ✅

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 3, 2026 7:15 AM in response to alexgdmx

Hello,

I'm also having this issue after 26.3 macOS update: now way to connect via SSH on any server (and obviously any SFTP server).

Some user on Reddit gave the hint regarding this issue:

• check if you have a socket file named Listeners by typing in the Terminal:

user@imac ls -lsa /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners
0 srw-rw-rw-  1 user  wheel  0 24 févr. 14:01 /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.7GTMkIHG4l/Listeners

• if you have such a file, just delete it:

rm /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners

I'm not sure exactly what this file was doing here post-update and what it exactly means , but it worked for me.

Reply

Answer 5

Apr 9, 2026 12:43 AM in response to alexgdmx

Hello,

After Tahoe 26.4, once again, SSH is not running properly again…

The previous trick removing the file /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners doesn't work anymore.

But if you try ssh -vvv onto one server, you can see that the logs sticks onto a read of a Listeners files which is not anymore in the same directory…

I needed to do:

sudo rm /var/run/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners

Then ssh was running properly again.

I saw plenty of articles saying that SSH 10 with specific unsecure features removed was in cause in ssh issues with

macOS Tahoe, but these articles only talk about access to «old» servers not being secure enough.

No one article regarding SSH being inoperable as a whole with macOS Tahoe. This issue doesn't seem to be strictly related to SSH version but rather with some other system setup.

Is someone aware @Apple that there is such an issue??? There have been quite some update since 26.3.1 and still not fix.

Reply

Answer 6

MrHoffman

Level 10

154,175 points

Mar 3, 2026 7:17 AM in response to alexgdmx

If there is a VPN around, remove it, restart, and test again. Remove. Don’t depend on the disable mechanism.

What does the following (edited for privacy if posting, the host replaced with yours) show:

ssh -vvv user@example.com

Apple updated ssh versions, and ssh-dss was dropped.

Current OpenSSH is 10.2.

OpenSSH 7.0 and later disable ssh-dss by default.

This means that local gear with older ssh can require downgrading or a bastion host or other steps.

Reply

Answer 7

MrHoffman

Level 10

154,175 points

Mar 3, 2026 8:12 AM in response to alexgdmx

alexgdmx wrote:

Well, definitely is something added on the upgrade. I had 2 macbooks connected to the same wi-fi router 26.2 and 26.3, one works the other doesn’t. The wi-fi is a mesh of 3 old APPLE AirPort Extreme, I took one of them and click “upgrade”, basically reboot the unit because there is not longer upgrades. After made just in one AirPort of the mesh I was able to SSH without problem.

Apple AirPort gear lacks mesh capabilities. Some Apple configurations can extend, and the gear can probably more commonly be configured as access points (APs) with wired backhaul, but the network extension and the aging Apple AirPort gear itself can be wonky.

Get an app such as WiFi Explorer, and view the network activity, and potential local interference.

Wonky? The AP-configured Time Capsules I was working with started dropping out for ~20 seconds randomly, with no indications of issues.

Aging? AirPort Express is somewhere between eight and twenty-some years old.

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 5, 2026 2:15 AM in response to alexgdmx

I have been seeing the same problem. If this happens I suggest you do a:

ls -l1 /private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.*/Listeners

and if a file shows, then 'rm' that file and try the ssh again.

Reply

Answer 9

alexgdmx Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 3, 2026 8:01 AM in response to Eric BOISSEAU

Well, definitely is something added on the upgrade. I had 2 macbooks connected to the same wi-fi router 26.2 and 26.3, one works the other doesn’t. The wi-fi is a mesh of 3 old APPLE AirPort Extreme, I took one of them and click “upgrade”, basically reboot the unit because there is not longer upgrades. After made just in one AirPort of the mesh I was able to SSH without problem.

Reply

Answer 10

Mar 18, 2026 3:03 PM in response to alexgdmx

I was having similar login issues as well for weeks and after a LOT of research I found out that there was an (almost) stealth update to OpenSSH where all usernames and passwords are now CASE SENSITVE. So now, 'username' is now a different account than 'Username' which most MacOS accounts start with capital letters. There are also a possible issue where some clients or login scripts that auto connect with lower case lettering may need to be corrected as well.

Reply