AC-5 Separation of Duties
Identify and document duties requiring separation; define access authorizations to support.
Source: FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline), AC-5. 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 FedRAMP Moderate (NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 baseline) in the compliance library.
A FedRAMP baseline is a subset of NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, enhancements included.
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
- Account provisioning and deprovisioning workflow tickets with manager approvals · Identity provider / directory
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Quarterly privileged access review attestations · Identity provider / directory
- Joiner mover leaver workflow evidence integrated with HR · Identity provider / directory
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- SSP AC-5 statement listing the duties separated (development versus production deploy, key custodian versus key user, request versus approval) · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Separation of duties matrix with the conflicting role pairs and IAM evidence that no user holds both · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- System access request forms with business justification · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Privileged accounts shared across administrators without individual accountability
- Access reviews performed but exceptions never remediated
- Role definitions drift from documented matrix without change control
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 sheetAC-4(21) Physical or Logical Separation of Information Flows · AC-6 Least Privilege