The root account must be the only account having unrestricted access to the TOSS system.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | V-252937 | SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227 | TOSS-04-010350 | SV-252937r991589_rule | 2026-02-19 | 2 |
Description
If an account other than root also has a User Identifier (UID) of "0", it has root authority, giving that account unrestricted access to the entire operating system. Multiple accounts with a UID of "0" afford an opportunity for potential intruders to guess a password for a privileged account.
ℹ️ Check
Check the system for duplicate UID "0" assignments with the following command:
$ sudo awk -F: '$3 == 0 {print $1}' /etc/passwd
If any accounts other than root have a UID of "0", this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Change the UID of any account on the system, other than root, that has a UID of "0."
If the account is associated with system commands or applications, the UID should be changed to one greater than "0" but less than "1000." Otherwise, assign a UID of greater than "1000" that has not already been assigned.