9.1.7 Verify User/Group Ownership on /etc/shadow

Information

The /etc/shadow file contains the one-way cipher text passwords for each user defined in the /etc/passwd file. The command below sets the user and group ownership of the file to root.

Rationale:

If attackers can gain read access to the /etc/shadow file, they can easily run a password cracking program against the hashed password to break it. Other security information that is stored in the /etc/shadow file (such as expiration) could also be useful to subvert the user accounts.

Solution

If the permissions of the /etc/shadow file are incorrect, run the following command to correct them:

# /bin/chown root:root /etc/shadow

Default Value:

OS Default: Yes

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/3096