EvidenceSheet
NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 · CM - Configuration Management

CM-11 User-installed Software

a. Establish organization-defined policies governing the installation of software by users; b. Enforce software installation policies through the following methods: organization-defined methods; and c. Monitor policy compliance organization-defined frequency.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, CM-11. 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 NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 in the compliance library.

Base controls and their enhancements. Which apply follows the baseline you are assessed against (for example FedRAMP Moderate or High, or the low, moderate and high baselines of SP 800-53B). Text in square brackets is a parameter your organisation sets.

10
artefacts
2
held by a system
2
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

  • List of rules governing user installed software · Cloud console / configuration management
  • System monitoring records · SIEM / log platform

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • System audit records · Cloud console / configuration management
  • Test of Organizational processes governing user-installed software on the system; mechanisms enforcing policies and methods for governing the installation of software by users; mechanisms monitoring policy compliance · SIEM / log platform

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

  • Configuration management policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Procedures addressing user-installed software · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • Configuration management plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System security plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System design documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System configuration settings and associated documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 2 system-held artefacts from your Cloud console / configuration management on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

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.

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CM-10(1) Software Usage Restrictions | Open-source Software · CM-11(2) User-installed Software | Software Installation with Privileged Status