STIGUI
V-282662CAT II — Medium severitySV-282662r1200966_rule

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

Rule version TOSS-05-000166 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

The "/etc/passwd-" file is a backup file of "/etc/passwd", and as such, contains information about the users that are configured on the system. Protecting this file is critical for system security.

Check

Verify the group ownership of the "/etc/passwd-" file using the following command:

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

root /etc/passwd-

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

Fix

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

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/passwd-

Identifiers

Group ID
V-282662
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-282662r1200966_rule
Check ID
C-87223r1200964_chk
Fix ID
F-87128r1200965_fix