What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on CM-3(3) Configuration Change Control | Automated Change Implementation?

Configuration management policy; Configuration management plan; Procedures addressing system configuration change control; System design documentation; System architecture and configuration documentation; Automated configuration control mechanisms.

What is the most common gap auditors find on CM-3(3)?

Baseline changes are deployed manually across the installed base rather than with automated mechanisms

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

`CM-3(3)` Configuration Change Control | Automated Change Implementation

Implement changes to the current system baseline and deploy the updated baseline across the installed base using organization-defined automated mechanisms.

Source: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5, CM-3(3). 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.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

moderate

to go live

Cloud console / configuration management

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

Procedures addressing system configuration change control · Cloud console / configuration management
Automated configuration control mechanisms · Cloud console / configuration management
Change control records · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

System audit records · Cloud console / configuration management
Test of Organizational processes for configuration change control; automated mechanisms implementing changes to current system baseline · 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 component inventory · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 3 of 10 artefacts that already live in a system (Cloud console / configuration management); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Baseline changes are deployed manually across the installed base rather than with automated mechanisms
Automated change deployment does not reach all installed components, leaving baseline drift

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

CM-3(2) Configuration Change Control | Testing, Validation, and Documentation of Changes · CM-3(4) Configuration Change Control | Security and Privacy Representatives