SV-257912r991589: RHEL 9 /etc/shadow- file must be owned by root. | Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 STIG SCAP Benchmark

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Assessment Title

Rule Text

RHEL 9 /etc/shadow- file must be owned by root.

Description

Discussion Text

The "/etc/shadow-" file is a backup file of "/etc/shadow", and as such, contains the list of local system accounts and password hashes. Protection of this file is critical for system security.

How this relates to the STIG checklist: STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Not mappedCCI-000366

References

DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 DISA DPMS Target Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 5551

Checks

DISA STIG (Manual Reference)

Verify the ownership of the "/etc/shadow-" file with the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%U %n" /etc/shadow- 

root /etc/shadow- 

If "/etc/shadow-" file does not have an owner of "root", this is a finding.

SCC Automation Reference

The reconstructed evaluation script behind this rule's OVAL check(s) — every module a compound check combines, with this rule's own concrete values and DISA's SCC tool's real per-module mechanism curated from static teardown of SCC releases.

#!/bin/bash
# Reconstructed from oval:mil.disa.stig.rhel9os:def:257912
# RHEL 9 /etc/shadow- file must be owned by root.
# Per-module read mechanism curated from static teardown of DISA's SCC tool
# (SCAP Compliance Checker) -- see the SCC Automation Reference above.

# /etc/shadow- file is owned by root.
# file_object (file_test)
test_1() {
  [ "$(stat -c '%u' '/etc/shadow-')" -eq 0 ]
}

if test_1; then
  echo "PASS"
else
  echo "FAIL"
fi

Assessment Script Powered by AISandbox-executed

A standalone Shell script to assess this control automatically. Review before running it in your environment.

Syntax-checked and actually executed in an isolated sandbox (not the real system this checks) — confirmed to run without errors.

#!/bin/sh
# OVAL definition: oval:mil.disa.stig.rhel9os:def:257912
if [ ! -f "/etc/shadow-" ]; then echo "PASS"; exit 0; fi; if [ $(stat -c %U /etc/shadow-) != 0 ]; then echo "FAIL"; exit 1; fi; echo "PASS"; exit 0

Remediation

Change the owner of the file /etc/shadow- to root by running the following command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/shadow-