/etc/passwd is a plain text-based database that contains information for all user accounts on the system. It is owned by root and has 644 permissions . The file can only be modified by root or users with sudo privileges and readable by all system users.

What is etc passwd Linux?

/etc/passwd in Linux is a file that stores the list of users on the system along with important information regarding these users. Identifying users uniquely is essential and necessary at the time of login. /etc/passwd is used by Linux system at the time of login.

What is the use of ETC passwd file?

The password field in /etc/passwd is used by AIX to signify if there is a password or whether the account is blocked. When the login shell is null, login is successful and the resulting login shell is Bourne shell for ssh.