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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/24330

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|CM-6b., 800-53|IA-5, 800-53|IA-5(1), CAT|II, CSCv7|4.4, Rule-ID|SV-251706r809342_rule, STIG-ID|RHEL-08-010121, Vuln-ID|V-251706

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 244aecf6742d8673f824f7618771ca5b8a790ff3742dc49dfc9b9208ce93768e