SHADOW(5) File Formats and Configuration SHADOW(5)

shadow - geschützte Passwortdatei

shadow is a file which contains the password information for the system's accounts and optional aging information.

Um die Sicherheit der Passwörter zu gewährleisten, darf diese Datei nicht für normale Benutzer lesbar sein.

Each line of this file contains 9 fields, separated by colons („:“), in the following order:

login name

It must be a valid account name, which exists on the system.

encrypted password

If the password field is empty, the user can log in without a password. However, some applications that read the /etc/shadow file might block access if the password field is empty.

If the password field begins with an exclamation mark !, the password is locked. The remaining characters on the line represent the password field before the password was locked.

Refer to crypt(3) for details on how this string is interpreted.

If the password field contains a string that is not a valid result of crypt(3), for instance ! or *, the user cannot use a UNIX password to log in. However, the user may log in the system by other means.

date of last password change

The date of the last password change, expressed as the number of days since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.

The value 0 indicates that the user must change their password the next time they log in to the system.

Ein leeres Feld bedeutet, dass das Passwort nicht ablaufen soll.

minimum password age

The minimum password age is the number of days the user must wait before they can change their password again.

An empty field and value 0 mean that there is no minimum password age.

maximum password age

The maximum password age is the number of days after which the user must change their password.

After this number of days has elapsed, the password may still be valid. The user is prompted to change their password at the next login.

Ein leeres Feld bedeutet, dass das Passwort unbefristet gilt und weder eine Vorwarnzeit noch eine Karenzzeit für eine verspätete Änderung (siehe unten) gilt.

Wenn für die Gültigkeit des Passwortes eine Zahl von Tagen eingetragen ist, die niedriger ist als die Zahl der Tage bis zur frühestmöglichen Änderung, kann die Benutzerin oder der Benutzer das Passwort nicht ändern.

password warning period

The number of days before a password expires (see the maximum password age above) during which the user is warned.

An empty field and value 0 mean that there is no password warning period.

password inactivity period

The number of days after a password expires (see the maximum password age above) during which the password is still accepted, and the user must update their password at the next login.

After the password expires and the password inactivity period elapses, the user cannot log in and must contact their administrator.

An empty string means that no inactivity period is enforced.

account expiration date

The date when the account expires, expressed as the number of days since 1970-01-01.

Note that account expiration differs from password expiration. Account expiration prevents the user from logging in, whereas password expiration only prevents users from logging in with their password.

An empty field means that the account never expires.

The value 0 should not be used, as it is interpreted either as an account with no expiration or as an expiration date of 1970-01-01.

reserved field

Dieses Feld ist für zukünftigen Gebrauch reserviert.

/etc/passwd

Informationen zu den Benutzerkonten

/etc/shadow

geschützte Informationen zu den Benutzerkonten

/etc/shadow-

Sicherungskopie von /etc/shadow

Beachten Sie, dass diese Datei von den Hilfsprogrammen des Shadow-Projektes verwendet wird; von anderen Programmen zur Benutzer- und Passwortverwaltung jedoch nicht unbedingt.

chage(1), login(1), passwd(1), passwd(5), pwck(8), pwconv(8), pwunconv(8), su(1), sulogin(8).

27.06.2025 shadow-utils 4.18.0