The password field of /etc/passwd is used to store the user’s encrypted password or a special
character that indicates how the password is stored. In older Linux systems, the user’s encrypted
password was stored in the /etc/passwd file. On most modern systems, this field is set to x, and the
user password is stored in the /etc/shadow file12. The /etc/shadow file is more secure than the
/etc/passwd file because it is readable only by the root user and not by regular users1. The other
options are not valid characters for the password field of /etc/passwd. Reference:
Understanding the /etc/passwd File | Linuxize
Understanding the /etc/passwd File - GeeksforGeeks
