When running in SELinux mode on Fedora, some operations don't work out of the box. Until somebody contributes a complete SELinux policy for ShellInABox, here are some tips on getting things working: - avoid using the default "LOGIN" service. Calling /bin/login does not do the right thing. The "LOGIN" service is the default service when running "shellinaboxd" as "root". This means, you will most likely see all logins failing, whenever you start the daemon as "root". To fix this problem, consider explicitly specifying a service definition. One of these two should work: --service /:AUTH:HOME:SHELL or --service /:SSH The latter requires that you have a locally running "sshd" daemon. - Alternatively, consider running "./configure --disable-login" before building the daemon. This will completely remove support for the "LOGIN" service, and shellinaboxd will instead use a default "SSH" service for both unprivileged and for "root" users. - On Fedora, PAM authentication does not work for shellinabox until you explicitly configure it. This means, using "AUTH" in the service definition will not allow you to log in. You can fix this by defining a proper "/etc/pam.d/shellinabox" file. Take a look at "etc-pam.d-shellinabox-example" for a working example. Make sure you assign the correct SELinux labels to this file when copying it into "/etc/pam.d": cp -Z system_u:object_r:etc_t:s0 etc-pam.d-shellinabox-example /etc/pam.d/