diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9a030c8..cf9937c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- `chage -l` did not work for a user on their own account, the one mode the
+  tool allows them: `make install` put `chage` at `0755`, which cannot read
+  `/etc/shadow`, and the multicall binary dropped its privilege before running
+  it. Debian ships `chage` setgid `shadow`, Fedora and Arch setuid root; it
+  now follows `expiry` -- setgid `shadow`, or setuid root where the group is
+  absent, and an applet that keeps euid 0 in the multicall binary. What the
+  caller may do is still decided from the real uid, so a user gets their own
+  line and nothing else; the deployment suite now checks both halves of that
+
 - `make install` failed on any system without a `shadow` group -- Fedora,
   Arch, or a packager's chroot -- because `expiry` was installed setgid to a
   group that was not there. On such systems `/etc/shadow` is readable by root
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c62c695..0f3e956 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -15,14 +15,16 @@ ROOT_TOOLS = useradd userdel usermod chpasswd chgpasswd newusers \
 # sbin is not on a normal user's PATH, so `passwd` there is `command not
 # found`. This is where GNU shadow puts them -- verified against the Debian
 # package, which ships passwd, chage, chfn, chsh and newgrp in /usr/bin and
-# everything else in /usr/sbin. chage is here for `chage -l`, the one mode a
-# user may run on their own account.
-# login lives in bin too, and is root-only without being setuid: getty runs
-# it as root, and it refuses to run as anyone else.
-USER_BIN_TOOLS = chage login
-# expiry reads the caller's own /etc/shadow line and nothing else, and the GNU
-# suite ships it setgid shadow -- enough to read the file, no more.
-SETGID_SHADOW_TOOLS = expiry
+# everything else in /usr/sbin.
+# login lives in bin, and is root-only without being setuid: getty runs it as
+# root, and it refuses to run as anyone else.
+USER_BIN_TOOLS = login
+# Tools a user runs on their own account that have to read /etc/shadow for
+# it: expiry reads the caller's line to judge it, chage -l reads it to print
+# it. Neither writes anything for a caller who is not root -- both check the
+# real uid -- so the GNU suite ships them setgid shadow, enough to read the
+# file and no more.
+SETGID_SHADOW_TOOLS = expiry chage
 
 # The group allowed to read /etc/shadow. Debian and Ubuntu have one, `shadow`,
 # and that is what the tools above are made setgid to. Fedora and Arch have no
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bd7c503..95e1b8b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ default-in-Ubuntu in under 3 years. This project follows that playbook.
 | `userdel` | **Implemented.** Remove from all system files, optional home/mail cleanup. |
 | `usermod` | **Implemented.** Modify all properties, group membership, lock/unlock, set pre-hashed password. |
 | `chpasswd` | **Implemented.** Batch password change from stdin. |
-| `chage` | **Implemented.** Password aging management, `-l` list mode. |
+| `chage` | **Implemented.** Password aging management; `-l` for a user's own account, setgid `shadow`. |
 | `groupadd` | **Implemented.** Auto GID allocation, system groups, force mode. |
 | `groupdel` | **Implemented.** Primary group usage check. |
 | `groupmod` | **Implemented.** GID change, rename, password. |
@@ -152,8 +152,8 @@ docker compose run --rm debian cargo build --release
 
 Default install: 28 standalone per-tool binaries with least-privilege setuid
 layout matching GNU shadow-utils. Only `passwd`, `chfn`, `chsh`, `newgrp`,
-`gpasswd`, `sg`, `newuidmap` and `newgidmap` are installed setuid-root, `expiry` is setgid `shadow`; the other 19 are plain `0755`.
-On a system with no `shadow` group -- Fedora, Arch -- `expiry` is installed setuid-root instead, the way those systems ship the GNU tools that read `/etc/shadow` for a user; a group under another name is named with `SHADOW_GROUP=`.
+`gpasswd`, `sg`, `newuidmap` and `newgidmap` are installed setuid-root, `expiry` and `chage` are setgid `shadow` (enough to read a user's own `/etc/shadow` line, which `expiry` and `chage -l` need); the other 18 are plain `0755`.
+On a system with no `shadow` group -- Fedora, Arch -- those two are installed setuid-root instead, the way those systems ship the GNU `chage`; a group under another name is named with `SHADOW_GROUP=`.
 
 ```shell
 sudo make install PREFIX=/usr/local
@@ -212,8 +212,8 @@ for tool in passwd chfn chsh newgrp gpasswd sg chage chpasswd chgpasswd newusers
 done
 ```
 
-Mode `4755` is what the eight setuid applets need; the others give the
-privilege up before running. Run `shadow-rs --list` to see the applets a
+Mode `4755` is what the ten applets that keep euid 0 need; the others give
+the privilege up before running. Run `shadow-rs --list` to see the applets a
 given build contains, and `sha256sum -c uu_shadow-*.tar.gz.sha256` to verify
 a download.
 
diff --git a/docs/man/chage.1.md b/docs/man/chage.1.md
index 249ba07..e148390 100644
--- a/docs/man/chage.1.md
+++ b/docs/man/chage.1.md
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ itself expires. The fields live in /etc/shadow (see **shadow**(5)) and are
 counted in **days since 1970-01-01**, not in dates.
 
 **chage -l** prints those fields in a readable form and is the only mode a
-normal user may run, and only for their own account. Every other mode requires
+normal user may run, and only for their own account. Reading /etc/shadow for
+that is why the binary is installed setgid *shadow* (setuid root on systems
+with no such group); what the caller may do is decided from their real uid, so
+the privilege buys a user nothing beyond their own line. Every other mode requires
 the superuser.
 
 ## OPTIONS
diff --git a/src/bin/shadow-rs.rs b/src/bin/shadow-rs.rs
index dba4f1c..1314e82 100644
--- a/src/bin/shadow-rs.rs
+++ b/src/bin/shadow-rs.rs
@@ -26,16 +26,18 @@ use std::process::ExitCode;
 
 type Applet = fn(&[OsString]) -> i32;
 
-/// Applets that keep euid 0 for an unprivileged caller: the same eight that
-/// `make install` marks setuid. `sg` is here for the reason `newgrp` is --
-/// it has to read `/etc/gshadow` to check a group password, and the GNU suite
-/// ships it as a symlink to the setuid `newgrp` for exactly that. The two id
-/// mappers are here because writing a namespace's map beyond the caller's
-/// own id needs `CAP_SETUID`/`CAP_SETGID` in the parent namespace. `expiry`
-/// is setgid `shadow` in the per-tool install, which is only enough to read
-/// `/etc/shadow`; a single setuid binary has nothing that narrow to offer, so
-/// it keeps euid 0 here and reads the one line it needs.
-const SETUID_APPLETS: [&str; 9] = [
+/// Applets that keep euid 0 for an unprivileged caller: the eight that
+/// `make install` marks setuid, and the two it marks setgid `shadow`. `sg` is
+/// here for the reason `newgrp` is -- it has to read `/etc/gshadow` to check
+/// a group password, and the GNU suite ships it as a symlink to the setuid
+/// `newgrp` for exactly that. The two id mappers are here because writing a
+/// namespace's map beyond the caller's own id needs `CAP_SETUID`/`CAP_SETGID`
+/// in the parent namespace. `expiry` and `chage -l` read the caller's own
+/// `/etc/shadow` line; setgid `shadow` is enough for that in the per-tool
+/// install, but a single setuid binary has nothing that narrow to offer, so
+/// they keep euid 0 here. Both decide what the caller may do from the real
+/// uid, so a user gets that one line and nothing else.
+const SETUID_APPLETS: [&str; 10] = [
     "passwd",
     "chfn",
     "chsh",
@@ -45,6 +47,7 @@ const SETUID_APPLETS: [&str; 9] = [
     "newuidmap",
     "newgidmap",
     "expiry",
+    "chage",
 ];
 
 /// Every applet compiled into this binary, by name, in `--list` order.
@@ -313,8 +316,9 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(names.iter().all(|n| ALL_TOOLS.contains(n)));
     }
 
-    // Exactly the tools that the per-tool install marks setuid keep the
-    // privilege; every other applet gives it up before running.
+    // Exactly the tools that the per-tool install marks setuid or setgid
+    // `shadow` keep the privilege; every other applet gives it up before
+    // running.
     #[test]
     fn only_self_service_tools_keep_privilege() {
         for tool in ALL_TOOLS {
@@ -331,6 +335,7 @@ mod tests {
                         | "newuidmap"
                         | "newgidmap"
                         | "expiry"
+                        | "chage"
                 ),
                 "{tool}"
             );
diff --git a/tests/e2e/deploy-test.sh b/tests/e2e/deploy-test.sh
index 0992bb0..16852f2 100755
--- a/tests/e2e/deploy-test.sh
+++ b/tests/e2e/deploy-test.sh
@@ -872,12 +872,21 @@ test_gpasswd_group_admin() {
 # ── usermod subordinate ids, and expiry ────────────────────────────
 
 test_subid_and_expiry() {
-    section "usermod -v/-V/-w/-W, and expiry"
+    section "usermod -v/-V/-w/-W, expiry, and chage -l as a user"
 
     userdel -r ex_user 2>/dev/null || true
     assert_ok "useradd -m ex_user" useradd -m -s /bin/sh ex_user
     assert_ok "set a password" bash -c "printf 'ex_user:oldpw\n' | chpasswd"
 
+    # chage -l is the one mode a user may run on their own account, and it
+    # has to read /etc/shadow to answer: the tool keeps euid 0 for that. The
+    # real uid still decides what the caller may do.
+    assert_contains "chage -l on one's own account answers a user" "Last password change" \
+        su -s /bin/sh ex_user -c 'chage -l ex_user'
+    assert_fail "chage -l on another account is refused" su -s /bin/sh ex_user -c 'chage -l root'
+    assert_fail "chage -M as a user is refused" su -s /bin/sh ex_user -c 'chage -M 5 ex_user'
+    assert_fail "chage --root as a user is refused" su -s /bin/sh ex_user -c 'chage --root / -l ex_user'
+
     assert_ok "usermod -v grants a subuid range" usermod -v 500000-500999 ex_user
     assert_file_contains "the range is in /etc/subuid" /etc/subuid '^ex_user:500000:1000$'
     assert_ok "usermod -V of half of it splits the entry" usermod -V 500000-500499 ex_user