diff --git a/createlinks b/createlinks
index 3321a78..2e41b63 100755
--- a/createlinks
+++ b/createlinks
@@ -315,7 +315,6 @@ event_link("rmmod-bonding", $event, "10");
 event_link("conf-startup", $event, "10");
 event_link("user-lock-passwd", $event, "15");
 event_link("group-modify-unix", $event, "15");
-event_link("user-rsshd", $event, "16");
 event_link("update-passwd", $event, "20");
 event_link("count-active-user-accounts", $event, "25");
 event_link("conf-modules", $event, "30");
@@ -343,7 +342,6 @@ templates2events("/etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf", $event);
 templates2events("/home/e-smith/ssl.pem/pem", $event);
 templates2events("/usr/lib/systemd/system/dhcpd.service.d/50koozali.conf", $event);
 event_link("set-hostname", $event, "10");
-event_link("user-rsshd", $event, "16");
 event_link("conf-modules", $event, "30");
 event_link("conf-startup", $event, "60");
 event_link("systemd-default", $event, "88");
@@ -454,7 +452,6 @@ event_link("init-accounts", $event, "05");
 event_link("rotate_logfiles", $event, "07");
 event_link("init-passwords", $event, "10");
 event_link("conf-startup", $event, "10");
-event_link("user-rsshd", $event, "16");
 event_link("conf-modules", $event, "30");
 event_link("create-mnt-floppy", $event, "50");
 event_link("systemd-default", $event, "88");
@@ -476,7 +473,6 @@ event_link("rotate_logfiles", $event, "07");
 event_link("conf-startup", $event, "10");
 event_link("user-lock-passwd", $event, "15");
 event_link("group-modify-unix", $event, "15");
-event_link("user-rsshd", $event, "16");
 event_link("update-passwd", $event, "20");
 event_link("count-active-user-accounts", $event, "25");
 event_link("conf-modules", $event, "30");
@@ -513,7 +509,6 @@ event_link("systemd-reload", $event, "89");
 $event = "user-create";
 
 event_link("user-create-unix", $event, "04");
-event_link("user-rsshd", $event, "16");
 event_link("count-active-user-accounts", $event, "25");
 event_link("user-group-modify", $event, "85");
 
@@ -535,7 +530,6 @@ event_link("count-active-user-accounts", $event, "25");
 $event = "user-modify";
 
 event_link("user-modify-unix", $event, "15");
-event_link("user-rsshd", $event, "16");
 event_link("user-group-modify", $event, "85");
 
 $event = "user-modify-admin";
diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-create-unix b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-create-unix
index 71bc791..5f9c33d 100755
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-create-unix
+++ b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-create-unix
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ my $company = $acct->prop('Company') || '';
 my $dept = $acct->prop('Dept') || '';
 my $city = $acct->prop('City') || '';
 my $street = $acct->prop('Street') || '';
-my $shell = $acct->prop('Shell') || '/usr/bin/rssh';
+my $shell = $acct->prop('Shell') || '/usr/bin/false';
 my $groups = "shared";
 
 if ($ldapauth ne 'enabled')
diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-group-modify b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-group-modify
index 159d9d3..531c69d 100755
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-group-modify
+++ b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-group-modify
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ my ($user, $colon, @old_groups) = split(' ', `/usr/bin/groups $userName`);
 # actions for all these groups
 my %modified_groups = map { $_, 1 } @old_groups, $acctdb->user_group_list($userName);
 # but omit "shared" and user private group
-foreach ('shared', $userName, 'rsshusers')
+foreach ('shared', $userName)
 {
     delete $modified_groups{$_} if exists $modified_groups{$_};
 }
diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-modify-unix b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-modify-unix
index 5b96077..420a909 100755
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-modify-unix
+++ b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-modify-unix
@@ -79,9 +79,9 @@ foreach my $u (@users)
     my ($comment, $shell) = (getpwnam($userName))[6,8];
     endpwent;
     my $new_shell = $u->prop('Shell')
-		|| (($shell eq "/bin/sshell") ? "/usr/bin/rssh" : $shell);
+		|| (($shell eq "/bin/sshell") ? "/usr/bin/false" : $shell);
 
-    $u->set_prop('Shell', $new_shell) unless (not defined $u->prop('Shell') && $new_shell eq "/usr/bin/rssh" ) ;
+    $u->set_prop('Shell', $new_shell) unless (not defined $u->prop('Shell') && $new_shell eq "/usr/bin/false" ) ;
 
     my $result;
     #------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-rsshd b/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-rsshd
deleted file mode 100644
index 5fc9917..0000000
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/events/actions/user-rsshd
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/perl -w
-
-package esmith;
-
-use strict;
-use Errno;
-use esmith::ConfigDB;
-use esmith::AccountsDB;
-use File::Temp;
-
-sub  trim { my $s = shift; $s =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g; return $s };
-
-my $conf = esmith::ConfigDB->open_ro;
-my $accounts = esmith::AccountsDB->open;
-
-my $ldapauth = $conf->get('ldap')->prop('Authentication') || 'disabled';
-my $x = 0; # exit value
-
-my $groupName = 'rsshusers';
-my $gid = getgrnam($groupName);
-my $tmpattr = File::Temp->new();
-
-my $event = $ARGV[0];
-my $userName = $ARGV[1];
-# finallement get all user
-my @users = (not defined $ARGV[1])?  $accounts->get_all_by_prop(type => "user" ) : map { $accounts->get($_); } $userName;
-my @currents=split /\n/, `/usr/sbin/lid -ng  rsshusers`;
-@currents=map { trim($_) } @currents;
-
-# here we could be emptying group, but we might want to let system user on this list.
-#if ( $event ~~ ['user-modify','user-create'] ) {
-#	system("/usr/bin/gpasswd","-M ''", "rsshusers");
-#	print "deleting rsshusers group content ...";
-#}
-
-foreach my $user (@users) {
-	my $cuser=$user->key;
-	# we remove users that should not be there
-	if ( defined $user->prop('Shell') &&  $user->prop('Shell') ne '/usr/bin/rssh') {
-		next unless ( "$cuser" ~~ @currents ) ;
-		system("/usr/bin/gpasswd", "-d", $cuser, "rsshusers");
-		next;
-	}
-	# next if the user is already there
-	print $tmpattr "memberUid: $cuser\n";
-	next if ( "$cuser" ~~ @currents ) ;
-	print "Adding user $cuser to group rsshusers";
-	system("/usr/sbin/usermod", "-a", "-G", "rsshusers", $cuser);
-
-}
-
-# add all users to rsshusers
-system("/usr/sbin/cpu", "-C/etc/cpu-system.conf", "groupmod", "-a", "$tmpattr", "$groupName") == 0
-or
-system( "/usr/sbin/cpu", "groupadd", "-g", $gid, "-a", "$tmpattr", $groupName  ) == 0  or ( $x =  $ldapauth ne 'enabled' ? $x : 255 , warn "Failed to create (ldap) group $groupName.\n" );
-
-exit ($x);
diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/cpu.conf/40shell b/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/cpu.conf/40shell
index 2332020..fc79461 100644
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/cpu.conf/40shell
+++ b/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/cpu.conf/40shell
@@ -1 +1 @@
-DEFAULT_SHELL   = /usr/bin/rssh
+DEFAULT_SHELL   = /usr/bin/false
diff --git a/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/shells/rssh b/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/shells/rssh
deleted file mode 100644
index 0745e17..0000000
--- a/root/etc/e-smith/templates/etc/shells/rssh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-/usr/bin/rssh
diff --git a/smeserver-base.spec b/smeserver-base.spec
index b889b0e..3577f8c 100644
--- a/smeserver-base.spec
+++ b/smeserver-base.spec
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Summary: smeserver server and gateway - base module
 %define name smeserver-base
 Name: %{name}
 %define version 5.8.1
-%define release 32
+%define release 33
 Version: %{version}
 Release: %{release}%{?dist}
 License: GPL
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ Requires: /usr/sbin/irqbalance
 Requires: /usr/sbin/smartd
 Requires: dbus
 Requires: acpid
-Requires: rssh
 Requires: bridge-utils
 Requires: vconfig
 Requires: e-smith-bootloader
@@ -180,6 +179,9 @@ fi
 
 
 %changelog
+* Thu Mar 14 2024 Jean-Philippe Pialasse <jpp@koozali.org> 5.8.1-33.sme
+- drop rssh support and requirement [SME: 12509]
+
 * Tue Mar 12 2024 Jean-Philippe Pialasse <jpp@koozali.org> 5.8.1-32.sme
 - add gcc -g flag to allow el8 build