diff --git a/nixos/modules/security/pam.nix b/nixos/modules/security/pam.nix
index 38dcbc2b0016..95f4de3fe3a0 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/security/pam.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/security/pam.nix
@@ -1477,6 +1477,16 @@ in
       }
     ];
 
+    warnings = optional
+      (with lib; with config.security.pam.sshAgentAuth;
+        enable && any (s: hasPrefix "%h" s || hasPrefix "~" s) authorizedKeysFiles)
+      ''config.security.pam.sshAgentAuth.authorizedKeysFiles contains files in the user's home directory.
+
+        Specifying user-writeable files there result in an insecure configuration:
+        a malicious process can then edit such an authorized_keys file and bypass the ssh-agent-based authentication.
+        See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/31611
+      '';
+
     environment.systemPackages =
       # Include the PAM modules in the system path mostly for the manpages.
       [ pkgs.pam ]
diff --git a/nixos/tests/ssh-agent-auth.nix b/nixos/tests/ssh-agent-auth.nix
index f4a282502cf3..fee40afd6153 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/ssh-agent-auth.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/ssh-agent-auth.nix
@@ -15,7 +15,11 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix ({ lib, pkgs, ... }:
         foo.isNormalUser = true;
       };
 
-      security.pam.sshAgentAuth.enable = true;
+      security.pam.sshAgentAuth = {
+        # Must be specified, as nixpkgs CI expects everything to eval without warning
+        authorizedKeysFiles = [ "/etc/ssh/authorized_keys.d/%u" ];
+        enable = true;
+      };
       security.${lib.replaceStrings [ "_" ] [ "-" ] n} = {
         enable = true;
         wheelNeedsPassword = true;  # We are checking `pam_ssh_agent_auth(8)` works for a sudoer