STIGUI
V-260570CAT I — High severitySV-260570r1268251_rule

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must not allow accounts configured with blank or null passwords.

Rule version UBTU-22-611060 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-09

Discussion

If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords must never be used in operational environments.

Check

Verify that null passwords cannot be used. Run the following command:

     $ grep nullok /etc/pam.d/common-auth /etc/pam.d/common-password

If this produces any output, this is a finding.

Fix

Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in "/etc/pam.d/common-password" to prevent logons with empty passwords.

Remove any instances of the "nullok" option in "/etc/pam.d/common-auth" and "/etc/pam.d/common-password".

Identifiers

Group ID
V-260570
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-260570r1268251_rule
Check ID
C-64299r1082231_chk
Fix ID
F-64207r1082232_fix