Users Without Home Directory

linux
foundations
security
Creating service accounts without home directories for minimal attack surface
Published

January 26, 2026

Users Without Home Directory

Scenario: Application Service Account

Company: xFusionCorp Industries
Task: Create service user without home directory for microservices application

🧠 Why No Home Directory?

Service accounts that don’t need to store personal files, configuration, or logs shouldn’t have home directories.

Benefits

  • Reduced Attack Surface: No writable directories
  • Disk Space: No unnecessary space allocation
  • Compliance: Follows minimal footprint principle
  • Security: Limits file-based vulnerabilities

🛠️ Implementation

Create User Without Home

# Create user without home directory
useradd -M -s /sbin/nologin appuser

# Verify
id appuser
ls -la /home/  # Should not contain appuser

Options Explained

Option Purpose
-M Don’t create home directory
-s /sbin/nologin Non-interactive shell
appuser Username

✅ Verification

🎯 Key Learnings

  • Minimal service account configuration
  • Home directory security
  • Container-ready user management

✅ Status

COMPLETED 🎉

  • Date: 2026-01-26

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