STIGUI
V-271813CAT II — Medium severitySV-271813r1092151_rule

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

Rule version OL09-00-002551 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-21

Discussion

The "/etc/shadow-" file is a backup file of "/etc/shadow", and as such, contains the list of local system accounts and password hashes. Protection of this file is critical for system security.

Check

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

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

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

Fix

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

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/shadow-

Identifiers

Group ID
V-271813
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-271813r1092151_rule
Check ID
C-75863r1092149_chk
Fix ID
F-75770r1092150_fix