STIGUI
V-282655CAT II — Medium severitySV-282655r1200945_rule

The TOSS 5 /etc/gshadow file must be owned by root.

Rule version TOSS-05-000159 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

The "/etc/gshadow" file contains group password hashes. Protecting this file is critical for system security.

Check

Verify the ownership of the "/etc/gshadow" file using the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%U %n" /etc/gshadow 

root /etc/gshadow

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

Fix

Change the owner of the file /etc/gshadow to root using the following command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/gshadow

Identifiers

Group ID
V-282655
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-282655r1200945_rule
Check ID
C-87216r1200943_chk
Fix ID
F-87121r1200944_fix