13.1 Ensure Password Fields are Not Empty

Information

An account with an empty password field means that anybody may log in as that user without providing a password.
All accounts must have passwords or be locked to prevent the account from being used by an unauthorized user.

Solution

If any accounts in the /etc/shadow file do not have a password, run the following command to lock the account until it can be determined why it does not have a password: # /usr/bin/passwd -l <username>
Also, check to see if the account is logged in and investigate what it is being used for to determine if it needs to be forced off.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/91

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(1)(a)

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: e82f31ec23aa7555d48af942f4b44aa72cef8b071bf5cd95883587b245eee3f8