# Ensure no duplicate group names exist

Necessity: Duplicate group names create ambiguity in identity and access management, which can lead to severe security vulnerabilities. When a group name is duplicated, it is associated with multiple Group IDs (GIDs). System processes and applications may resolve the name to an unintended GID, potentially granting incorrect permissions to files and resources. This can result in unauthorized access, privilege escalation, or data exposure, as it breaks the principle of a unique, authoritative identity for each group. Auditing and Remediation: The audit script scans the `/etc/group` file, which is the local group database, to identify any group names that are listed more than once. The remediation process for this issue is explicitly manual. An automated script cannot safely decide which of the duplicate groups is the legitimate one, which should be removed, and how to correctly reassign file ownership from the incorrect group to the correct one without causing system instability or data loss. Recommended State Rationale: The recommended state for Basic, Moderate, and Strict levels is an empty string, which indicates that the audit script found no duplicate group names. There is no acceptable scenario for having duplicate group names on a system, regardless of the security level. Any duplication is a critical misconfiguration that must be resolved immediately. Therefore, all hardening levels enforce the same unambiguous requirement: zero duplicates.

## Recommended State Configuration

| Security Level | Value |
|----------------|-------|
| **Basic** | `['']` |
| **Moderate** | `['']` |
| **Strict** | `['']` |
| **Type** | `ENUM` |

## Audit Script Working

Bash script that identifies any duplicate group names in the `/etc/group` file. The script must parse the file and output a single, comma-separated string containing the names of all groups that appear more than once. If no duplicates are found, the script must return an empty string. The output must contain only this value, with no additional text or formatting.

## Remediation Script Working

Bash script that accepts a single argument. As automated remediation for duplicate group names is high-risk and requires manual administrative intervention to resolve ownership and permissions, this script should not perform any system modifications. It must log that manual action is required and always return `false`.

