The commented out entries don't show disabled configuration, but by convention for documentation purposes show default options.
So for example, if there's the entry:
#PermitTunnel no
That means by default on this system when there's no PermitTunnel
option defined anywhere, sshd
will behave as if -o PermitTunnel=no
had been given.
#PermitTTY yes
tells sshd
will behave by default as if -o PermitTTY=yes
had been given.
or even this:
#Port 22
#AddressFamily any
#ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
#ListenAddress ::
means it behaves by default as if -o Port=22 -o AddressFamily=any -o ListenAddress=0.0.0.0 -o ListenAddress=::
options had been provided.
Of course, it's possible that the commented-out configuration won't match the reality, but as they are built and packaged together, they're expected to match.
The default shipped uncommented entries might reflect a configuration different from default sshd
(or possibly from upstream), or might not and would just enforce or underscore an important configuration.
This information is available in upstream openssh-portable source for sshd_config
:
# The strategy used for options in the default sshd_config shipped with
# OpenSSH is to specify options with their default value where
# possible, but leave them commented. Uncommented options override the
# default value.