Where are the passwords of the users located in Linux?

The encrypted passwords and other information such as password expiry information (the password aging information) are stored in /etc/shadow file. However, normal user cannot access the /etc/shadow file directly. For example, try out following cat command:

$ cat /etc/shadow

Output:

cat: /etc/shadow: Permission denied

You can only access this file via few commands such as passwd. Login as root user and execute cat command on /etc/shadow file:

$ su -

Password:

# cat /etc/shadow

Output:

root: $1$s83Ugoff$EDT83WAAFpCQHWDp07E9Ux:0:99999:7:::
daemon:*:13031:0:99999:7:::
bin:*:13031:0:99999:7:::

Each entry in /etc/shadow is divided into following fields:

Login name
Encrypted password
Days since Jan 1, 1970 that password was last changed
Days before password may be changed
Days after which password must be changed
Days before password is to expire that user is warned
Days after password expires that account is disabled
Days since Jan 1, 1970 that account is disabled

Please note that FreeBSD uses /etc/master.shadow file.

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Where are the passwords of the users located in Linux?

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