STIGUI
V-271801CAT II — Medium severitySV-271801r1092115_rule

OL 9 /etc/gshadow- file must be group-owned by root.

Rule version OL09-00-002539 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-21

Discussion

The "/etc/gshadow-" file is a backup of "/etc/gshadow", and as such, contains group password hashes. Protection of this file is critical for system security.

Check

Verify that OL 9 configures group ownership of the "/etc/gshadow-" file with the following command:

$ stat -c "%G %n" /etc/gshadow- root /etc/gshadow-

If "/etc/gshadow-" file does not have a group owner of "root", this is a finding.

Fix

Change the group of the file /etc/gshadow- to root by running the following command:

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/gshadow-

Identifiers

Group ID
V-271801
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-271801r1092115_rule
Check ID
C-75851r1092113_chk
Fix ID
F-75758r1092114_fix