RHEL 10 must be configured so that the "/etc/passwd" file is owned by "root".

STIG ID: RHEL-10-400040  |  SRG: SRG-OS-000080-GPOS-00048 |  Severity: medium (CAT II)  |  CCI: CCI-000213 |  Vulnerability Id: V-281025

Vulnerability Discussion

The "/etc/passwd" file contains information about the users that are configured on the system. Protection of this file is critical for system security.

Check

Verify RHEL 10 is configured so that the "/etc/passwd" file is owned by "root" with the following command:

$ sudo stat -c "%U %n" /etc/passwd
root /etc/passwd

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

Fix

Configure RHEL 10 so that the owner of the "/etc/passwd" file is set to "root" by running the following command:

$ sudo chown root /etc/passwd
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