Git-bash premission denied on .ssh directory

[James Stamper]

I have been using git-bash for a few years. Just today, when attempting a push, it failed:

$ git push origin xxxxxxxx-xxxxxx
The authenticity of host 'xxxxxxxx (nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn)' can't be established.
ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:YA8ys71k83fX2vnTJpAI/u1Km7J4wpvtay9wh/gTBaA.
This key is not known by any other names
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Failed to add the host to the list of known hosts (/h/.ssh/known_hosts).
\S
Kernel \r on an \m
git@xxxxxxx's password:
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

I tried to look at the .ssh directory, but got permission denied:

xxxxxx@xxxxxxx MINGW64 /h
$ ls .ssh
ls: cannot open directory '.ssh': Permission denied

Why did my permissions change? Maybe it was something external in windows. I could maybe change the access properties of the directory, but I can't locate it in Windows Explorer.