STIGUI
V-271814CAT II — Medium severitySV-271814r1092154_rule

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

Rule version OL09-00-002552 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-21

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

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

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

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

Fix

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

$ sudo chown root /etc/shadow

Identifiers

Group ID
V-271814
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-271814r1092154_rule
Check ID
C-75864r1092152_chk
Fix ID
F-75771r1092153_fix