Detections
Analytics

6.2.2 Ensure /etc/master.passwd 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.

NOTE: Nessus has provided the target output to assist in reviewing the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

If any accounts in the /etc/master.passwd 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:

# pw lock <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/19044

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5, 800-53|IA-5(1), CSCv7|4.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 817c212440c7e8dab3d2f99c4c27d0334745d74eb8d33740916fb319baca3019