CM-3(2) Configuration Change Control | Testing, Validation, and Documentation of Changes
Test, validate, and document changes to the system before finalizing the implementation of the changes.
Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, CM-3(2). 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.
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
- Procedures addressing system configuration change control · Cloud console / configuration management
- Change control records · Cloud console / configuration management
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Test records · Cloud console / configuration management
- Validation records · Cloud console / configuration management
- Test of Organizational processes for configuration change control; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing, testing, validating, and documenting system changes · Cloud console / configuration management
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Configuration management policy · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- Configuration management plan · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- System design documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- System architecture and configuration documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
- System configuration settings and associated documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Changes are deployed to production without documented testing or validation beforehand
- Test and validation results are not recorded, so the organization cannot evidence that changes were checked before finalizing
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 sheetCM-3(1) Configuration Change Control | Automated Documentation, Notification, and Prohibition of Changes · CM-3(3) Configuration Change Control | Automated Change Implementation