What were you trying to do that didn't work?

PASS_MIN_DAYS in /etc/login.defs  or 

chage -m <day> root

 doesn't work as intended for "root" user.

If this behaviour intended then it should be properly documented in man-page. 

What is the impact of this issue to you?

Unable to set the minimum number of days between password change for root user (to restrict password change for root user frequently).

man-page of 'chage' or login.defs doesn't talk about this behaviour:

# man chage
       -m, --mindays MIN_DAYS
           Set the minimum number of days between password changes to MIN_DAYS. A value of zero for this field indicates that
           the user may change their password at any time.
 
# man login.defs
       PASS_MIN_DAYS (number)
           The minimum number of days allowed between password changes. Any password changes attempted sooner than this will be
           rejected. If not specified, -1 will be assumed (which disables the restriction).

Please provide the package NVR for which the bug is seen:

shadow-utils-4.6-22.el8.x86_64.rpm

shadow-utils-4.9-12.el9.x86_64.rpm

How reproducible is this bug?:

Always

Steps to reproduce

1. Set MIN_DAYS for root user via 'chage'.
2. Then try to change password for root user frequently: 

   [root@master ~]# chage -m 10 root
   [root@master ~]# chage -l root
   Last password change : Jan 30, 2025
   Password expires : never
   Password inactive : never
   Account expires : never
   Minimum number of days between password change : 10  <---
   Maximum number of days between password change : 99999
   Number of days of warning before password expires : 7
    
   [root@master ~]# passwd
   Changing password for user root.
   New password: 
   BAD PASSWORD: The password is a palindrome
   Retype new password: 
   passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
    
   [root@master ~]# passwd
   Changing password for user root.
   New password: 
   BAD PASSWORD: The password is a palindrome
   Retype new password: 
   passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
   

1.  For normal local user, a WARNING is thrown & password change is rejected:

   You must wait longer to change your password
   passwd: Authentication token manipulation error

Expected results

Either this issue should be fixed for "root" account & password change should be rejected

Or it should be documented in man-page if this behaviour is expected. 

Actual results

Even if MIN_DAYS is set, password change works every time without any restriction.