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7.2.2 Ensure /etc/shadow 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:

# 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/benchmarks/27797

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|CM-6b., 800-53|IA-5, 800-53|IA-5(1), CSCv7|4.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: a3c505ba89055277163e0bdca48e7256280252b7ed7a7b5e2ecf2322e07d0dbd