EvidenceSheet
CIS Controls v8.1 · CIS Control 16: Application Software Security

16.6 Establish and Maintain a Severity Rating System and Process for Application Vulnerabilities

Rate application vulnerabilities for severity through a defined scheme and process that sets the order in which fixes are made and a minimum security bar for releasing code. Ratings give a systematic way to triage and help make sure the worst issues are fixed first. Review the system and process yearly. Implementation Groups: IG2 and IG3 (not in the IG1 baseline; applies from IG2 upward). Asset type: Documentation. Security function: Govern.

Source: CIS Controls v8.1, 16.6. The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open CIS Controls v8.1 in the compliance library.

Scope: Implementation Groups: IG2, IG3. Security function: Govern; asset type: Documentation.

Each safeguard shows its Implementation Groups. IG1 is the essential baseline for every enterprise, IG2 adds to it, IG3 is all 153. Version 8.1 adds the Govern security function and asks for more processes to be documented; numbering is unchanged from v8.

3
artefacts
0
held by a system
1
at each review
hard
to go live
Policy repository / GRC workspace
where the evidence lives
teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

none for this control

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • Annual review record and backlog sorted by severity · Source control / CI pipeline

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Documented severity rating scheme for application vulnerabilities · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Release criteria stating the minimum acceptable security level · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

No system holds this evidence for you: it is people and documents. Reminders and routing to the owner still save time. Put the document under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a record with reviewer and date.

Common gaps auditors find

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

16.5 Use Up-to-Date and Trusted Third-Party Software Components · 16.7 Use Standard Hardening Configuration Templates for Application Infrastructure