Github authentication issues running a script from System Manager on EC2 instance

Question

Hello,

Some context: 
- I have a Lambda which makes use of the system manager to call a command on the ec2 instance to run a script. 
- The code which calls the systems manager: 
`def run_commands(instance_id):
    ssm = boto3.client('ssm',region_name='eu-west-1')
    commands = [
        "sh /home/ubuntu/eventor-crawler/runEventCrawler.sh"
    ]
    response = ssm.send_command(
        InstanceIds=[instance_id],
        DocumentName="AWS-RunShellScript",
        Parameters={'commands': commands},
        TimeoutSeconds=3600
    )`

The runEventCrawler.sh script runs commands to checkout the main branch of my repo and pull the changes like so:

```
#!/bin/bash
CRAWLER_DIR="/home/ubuntu/eventor-crawler"
HOME="/home/ubuntu"
SSH_KEY="/home/ubuntu/.ssh/id_rsa"

export HOME

chmod 600 "$SSH_KEY"

ssh-keyscan -H github.com >> /home/ubuntu/.ssh/known_hosts

git config --global --add safe.directory "$CRAWLER_DIR"

cd "$CRAWLER_DIR"
git remote -v >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1

ssh -vT git@github.com >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1

I can't find any related issues and I've fallen on many dead ends so any input is valued.

cd "$CRAWLER_DIR"
git checkout main
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Failed to checkout main branch" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    exit 1
fi

git pull origin main
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Failed to pull latest changes from main" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    exit 1
fi
echo "Checked out main and pulled latest changes"
```

When I run this script on the EC2 instance it runs just fine. However when I run it from the Lambda which calls the Systems manager I get the error

```
Identity added: /home/ubuntu/.ssh/id_rsa (ubuntu@ip-172-31-3-219)

Already on 'main'

Host key verification failed.

fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights

and the repository exists.

failed to run commands: exit status 1
```

Debug error log:

```
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config^M
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 19: include /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d/*.conf matched no files^M
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 21: Applying options for *^M
debug1: Connecting to github.com [4.208.26.197] port 22.^M
debug1: Connection established.^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_rsa type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_rsa-cert type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ecdsa type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ecdsa-cert type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ecdsa_sk-cert type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ed25519 type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_ed25519_sk-cert type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_xmss type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_xmss-cert type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_dsa type -1^M
debug1: identity file /root/.ssh/id_dsa-cert type -1^M
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_9.6p1 Ubuntu-3ubuntu13^M
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version babeld-33961236^M
debug1: compat_banner: no match: babeld-33961236^M
debug1: Authenticating to github.com:22 as 'git'^M
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen /root/.ssh/known_hosts: No such file or directory^M
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen /root/.ssh/known_hosts2: No such file or directory^M
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent^M
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received^M
debug1: kex: algorithm: curve25519-sha256^M
debug1: kex: host key algorithm: ssh-ed25519^M
debug1: kex: server->client cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC:  compression: none^M
debug1: kex: client->server cipher: chacha20-poly1305@openssh.com MAC:  compression: none^M
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY^M
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY received
debug1: Server host key: 
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen /root/.ssh/known_hosts: No such file or directory^M
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen /root/.ssh/known_hosts2: No such file or directory^M
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts: No such file or directory^M
debug1: load_hostkeys: fopen /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts2: No such file or directory^M
debug1: hostkeys_find_by_key_hostfile: hostkeys file /root/.ssh/known_hosts does not exist^M
debug1: hostkeys_find_by_key_hostfile: hostkeys file /root/.ssh/known_hosts2 does not exist^M
debug1: hostkeys_find_by_key_hostfile: hostkeys file /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts does not exist^M
debug1: hostkeys_find_by_key_hostfile: hostkeys file /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts2 does not exist^M
debug1: read_passphrase: can't open /dev/tty: No such device or address^M
```

Okay so it seems the issue is that the command is being run as the root user. However I want to run it as an ubuntu user. I can't find much documentation around how to do this

Riku_Kobayashi · Answer

Hello.

As you may know, Systems Manager runs using the Linux root user.  
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/systems-manager/latest/userguide/ssm-agent-restrict-root-level-commands.html

So, try using the "runuser" command as shown in the answer at the URL below.  
https://devops.stackexchange.com/questions/10402/running-a-command-as-a-specific-user-on-an-ec2-using-ssm  
So in your case I think it would be something like this:  
```
/sbin/runuser -l ubuntu 'sh /home/ubuntu/eventor-crawler/runEventCrawler.sh'
```

Github authentication issues running a script from System Manager on EC2 instance

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