STIGUI
V-260571CAT I — High severitySV-260571r1268251_rule

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

Rule version UBTU-22-611065 · 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 all accounts on the system to have a password by using the following command:

     $ sudo awk -F: '!$2 {print $1}' /etc/shadow 

If the command returns any results, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure all accounts on the system to have a password or lock the account by using the following commands:

Set the account password:

     $ sudo passwd <username> 

Or lock the account:

     $ sudo passwd -l <username>

Identifiers

Group ID
V-260571
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-260571r1268251_rule
Check ID
C-64300r953524_chk
Fix ID
F-64208r953525_fix