diff --git a/app/models/ssh_host_key.rb b/app/models/ssh_host_key.rb
index 99a0c54a26a38738f2ca7c0c8e3b3da1b3fa292f..f318d32c71cb31c1cf5477581037274c8ba1fcc5 100644
--- a/app/models/ssh_host_key.rb
+++ b/app/models/ssh_host_key.rb
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ class SshHostKey
 
   # Needed for reactive caching
   def self.primary_key
-    'id'
+    :id
   end
 
   def id
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/sh-fix-detect-host-keys.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/sh-fix-detect-host-keys.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..993d7c35b1825930a8c465b99b1829f8c1dfc56c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/sh-fix-detect-host-keys.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Fix Detect Host Keys not working
+merge_request: 24884
+author:
+type: fixed
diff --git a/spec/models/ssh_host_key_spec.rb b/spec/models/ssh_host_key_spec.rb
index 75db43b3d56e67e3fbce52de5d036354738db754..23a94334172cb46ac54b48cc6e19924c79c57999 100644
--- a/spec/models/ssh_host_key_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/ssh_host_key_spec.rb
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ describe SshHostKey do
 
   subject(:ssh_host_key) { described_class.new(project: project, url: 'ssh://example.com:2222', compare_host_keys: compare_host_keys) }
 
+  describe '.primary_key' do
+    it 'returns a symbol' do
+      expect(described_class.primary_key).to eq(:id)
+    end
+  end
+
   describe '#fingerprints', :use_clean_rails_memory_store_caching do
     it 'returns an array of indexed fingerprints when the cache is filled' do
       stub_reactive_cache(ssh_host_key, known_hosts: known_hosts)