STIGUI
V-282656CAT II — Medium severitySV-282656r1200948_rule

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

Rule version TOSS-05-000160 · 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 group ownership of the "/etc/gshadow" file using the following command:

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

root /etc/gshadow

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

Fix

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

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/gshadow

Identifiers

Group ID
V-282656
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-282656r1200948_rule
Check ID
C-87217r1200946_chk
Fix ID
F-87122r1200947_fix