The /etc/passwd file must not contain password hashes.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-38499	RHEL-06-000031	SV-50300r1_rule		Medium

Description
The hashes for all user account passwords should be stored in the file "/etc/shadow" and never in "/etc/passwd", which is readable by all users.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2015-05-26

Details

Check Text ( C-46056r1_chk )
To check that no password hashes are stored in "/etc/passwd", run the following command: # awk -F: '($2 != "x") {print}' /etc/passwd If it produces any output, then a password hash is stored in "/etc/passwd". If any stored hashes are found in /etc/passwd, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-43446r1_fix)
If any password hashes are stored in "/etc/passwd" (in the second field, instead of an "x"), the cause of this misconfiguration should be investigated. The account should have its password reset and the hash should be properly stored, or the account should be deleted entirely.