Ensure Password Fields are Not Empty (Scored) 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. Fix: 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: # /usr/bin/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.