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V-257906

CAT II (Medium)

RHEL 9 /etc/passwd file must be owned by root.

Rule ID

SV-257906r991589_rule

STIG

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V2R8

CCIs

CCI-000366

Discussion

The "/etc/passwd" file contains information about the users that are configured on the system. Protection of this file is critical for system security.

Check Content

Verify the ownership of the "/etc/passwd" file with the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%U %n" /etc/passwd

root /etc/passwd

If "/etc/passwd" file does not have an owner of "root", this is a finding.

Fix Text

Change the owner of the file /etc/passwd to root by running the following command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/passwd