Profile Applicability:
Level 1


Description:
 Duplicate user names can cause conflicts in authentication, permissions, and auditing. Ensuring unique user names maintains system integrity and prevents unauthorized access or privilege escalation.

Rationale:
 Preventing duplicate user names avoids confusion in user management and reduces risks related to identity and access control.

Impact:
 Pros:

  • Maintains clear and consistent user identity management.

  • Simplifies auditing and access control.

Cons:

  • Renaming or removing duplicate user accounts may disrupt workflows if not carefully handled.

Default Value:
 Duplicate user names may exist due to misconfiguration or manual errors.

Pre-requisites:

  • Root or sudo privileges to review and modify user accounts.

Remediation:

Test Plan:

Using Linux command line:

  1. List all user names and identify duplicates:

    cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd | sort | uniq -d

  2. Verify that the output is empty, indicating no duplicates.

Implementation Plan:

Using Linux command line:

  1. For each duplicate user name found, rename or remove duplicates carefully:

    usermod -l <new_username> <old_username>  
userdel <duplicate_username>

  2. Ensure user files and permissions are updated accordingly.

Backout Plan:

Using Linux command line:

  1. Restore original user names from backups if needed.

  2. Reassign ownership of files and permissions if necessary.

References: