Rule version RHEL-10-400040 · STIG v1 · 2026-09-17
The "/etc/passwd" file contains information about the users that are configured on the system. Protection of this file is critical for system security.
Verify RHEL 10 is configured so that the "/etc/passwd" file is owned by "root" with the following command:
$ sudo stat -c "%U %n" /etc/passwd root /etc/passwd
If the "/etc/passwd" file does not have an owner of "root", this is a finding.
Configure RHEL 10 so that the owner of the "/etc/passwd" file is set to "root" by running the following command:
$ sudo chown root /etc/passwd