diff --git a/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl b/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl
index 44040217b02713..bef08dc402078e 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl
+++ b/nixos/modules/config/update-users-groups.pl
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ sub parseUser {
     push @shadowNew, join(":", $u->{name}, $hashedPassword, "1::::::") . "\n";
 }
 
-updateFile("/etc/shadow", \@shadowNew, 0600);
+updateFile("/etc/shadow", \@shadowNew, 0640);
 {
     my $uid = getpwnam "root";
     my $gid = getgrnam "shadow";