STIGUI
V-282664CAT II — Medium severitySV-282664r1200972_rule

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

Rule version TOSS-05-000168 · STIG v1 · 2026-08-20

Discussion

The "/etc/shadow" file stores password hashes. Protecting this file is critical for system security.

Check

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

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

root /etc/shadow

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

Fix

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

$ sudo chgrp root /etc/shadow

Identifiers

Group ID
V-282664
Group title
SRG-OS-000480-GPOS-00227
Rule ID
SV-282664r1200972_rule
Check ID
C-87225r1200970_chk
Fix ID
F-87130r1200971_fix