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V-281071

CAT II (Medium)

RHEL 10 must enforce mode "0644" or less permissive for "/etc/passwd-" file to prevent unauthorized access.

Rule ID

SV-281071r1165568_rule

STIG

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R1

CCIs

CCI-000213

Discussion

The "/etc/passwd-" file is a backup file of "/etc/passwd", and as such contains information about the users that are configured on the system. Protection of this file is critical for system security.

Check Content

Verify RHEL 10 is configured so that the "/etc/passwd-" file has mode "0644" or less permissive with the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%a %n" /etc/passwd-
644 /etc/passwd-

If a value of "0644" or less permissive is not returned, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 10 so that the mode of the "/etc/passwd-" file is set to "0644" by running the following command:

$ sudo chmod 0644 /etc/passwd-