Vulnerability Discussion

If an account has an empty password, anyone could log on and run commands with the privileges of that account. Accounts with empty passwords must never be used in operational environments.

Check

Check the "/etc/shadow" file for blank passwords with the following command:

$ sudo awk -F: '!$2 {print $1}' /etc/shadow

If the command returns any results, this is a finding.

Fix

Configure all accounts on the system to have a password or lock the account with the following commands:

Perform a password reset:
$ sudo passwd [username]
Lock an account:
$ sudo passwd -l [username]