What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on IA.L2-3.5.10 Cryptographically-Protected Passwords?

Evidence of password hashing or equivalent protection at rest; Configuration showing authentication traffic is encrypted in transit; Review confirming no plaintext credential storage.

What is the most common gap auditors find on IA.L2-3.5.10?

Credentials stored in scripts or configuration files in plaintext

CMMC 2.0 · Identification and Authentication

`IA.L2-3.5.10` Cryptographically-Protected Passwords

Store and transmit passwords only in cryptographically protected form.

Source: CMMC 2.0, IA.L2-3.5.10. 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 CMMC 2.0 in the compliance library.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

moderate

to go live

Identity provider / directory

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

Configuration showing authentication traffic is encrypted in transit · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Evidence of password hashing or equivalent protection at rest · Identity provider / directory
Review confirming no plaintext credential storage · Identity provider / directory

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

none for this control

First move

Start with the 1 of 3 artefacts that already live in a system (Identity provider / directory); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Credentials stored in scripts or configuration files in plaintext
Legacy protocols transmit credentials unprotected
Reversible encryption used instead of one way protection

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

IA.L2-3.5.9 Temporary Passwords · IA.L2-3.5.11 Obscure Feedback