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V-281029

CAT II (Medium)

RHEL 10 must be configured so that the "/etc/shadow" file is owned by "root".

Rule ID

SV-281029r1165442_rule

STIG

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Security Technical Implementation Guide

Version

V1R1

CCIs

CCI-000213

Discussion

The "/etc/shadow" file contains the list of local system accounts and stores password hashes. Protection of this file is critical for system security. Failure to give ownership of this file to "root" provides the designated owner with access to sensitive information, which could weaken the system security posture.

Check Content

Verify RHEL 10 is configured so that the "/etc/shadow" file is owned by "root" with the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%U %n" /etc/shadow
root /etc/shadow

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

Fix Text

Configure RHEL 10 so that the owner of the "/etc/shadow" file is set to "root" by running the following command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/shadow