Shadow file entry question

[David Rosenstrauch]

On 11/19/2010 10:50 AM, Chandler, Scott wrote:
> We've got a system which is being audited for SOX compliance. The
> auditors are asking about entries in the shadow file. For the users
> haldaemon and messagebus, the password section contains a single x.
> Note, this is the shadow file, not the passwd file. Any idea what
> that x denotes?
>
> haldaemon:x:14517:0:99999:7:::0 messagebus:x:14517:0:99999:7:::0
>
> Thanks, Scott

I have entries like that in my shadow file too:

...
bin:x:14871::::::
daemon:x:14871::::::
mail:x:14871::::::
ftp:x:14871::::::
http:x:14871::::::
nobody:x:14871::::::
...

I can't seem to find any link to support this, but I'm thinking it has 
the same effect as in the shadow file:  user can't perform a login.

DR