STIGUI
V-281029CAT II — Medium severitySV-281029r1268226_rule

RHEL 10 must be configured so that the "/etc/shadow" file is owned by "root".

Rule version RHEL-10-400060 · STIG v1 · 2026-09-17

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 RHEL 10 is configured so that the "/etc/shadow" file is owned by "root" with the following command:

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

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

Fix

Configure RHEL 10 so that the owner of the "/etc/shadow" file is set to "root" by running the following command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/shadow

Identifiers

Group ID
V-281029
Group title
SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048
Rule ID
SV-281029r1268226_rule
Check ID
C-85590r1165440_chk
Fix ID
F-85495r1165441_fix