The /etc/passwd file contains a list of all the valid userIDs defined in the system, but not the passwords. The command below sets the owner and group of the file to root. UID - User Identifier is a number assigned by Linux to each user on the system. This number is used to identify the user to the system and to determine which system resources the user can access. UIDs are stored in the /etc/passwd file: Rationale: The /etc/passwd file needs to be protected from unauthorized changes by non-priliveged users, but needs to be readable as this information is used with many non-privileged programs. Fix: If the user and group ownership of the /etc/passwd file are incorrect, run the following command to correct them: # /bin/chown root:root /etc/passwd

[UID of ROOT, GID of ROOT]

If the user and group ownership of the /etc/passwd file are incorrect, run the following command to correct them: # /bin/chown root:root /etc/passwd