Useradd hangs while trying to add a system user

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6:

    • While trying to add a system user using useradd with -r or --system option, the command never terminates until Ctrl-C is pressed.
    • Installation of some packages using yum may hang on useradd.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7:

    • While trying to add a system user using useradd with -r or --system option, the command takes long to complete and show the following error:

      useradd: Can't get unique system UID (Numerical result out of range). Suppressing additional messages.
      
    • The system user is added to /etc/passwd, and /etc/shadow or remote database correctly.

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • shadow-utils

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