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

CM-3 Configuration Change Control

a. Determine and document the types of changes to the system that are configuration-controlled; b. Review proposed configuration-controlled changes to the system and approve or disapprove such changes with explicit consideration for security and privacy impact analyses; c. Document configuration change decisions associated with the system; d. Implement approved configuration-controlled changes to the system; e. Retain records of configuration-controlled changes to the system for organization-defined time period; f. Monitor and review activities associated with configuration-controlled changes to the system; and g. Coordinate and provide oversight for configuration change control activities through organization-defined configuration change control element that convenes Selection (one or more): [organization-defined frequency; when organization-defined configuration change conditions].

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

10
artefacts
2
held by a system
4
at each review
hard
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
  • Change control records · Cloud console / configuration management

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

  • System audit records · Cloud console / configuration management
  • Change control audit and review reports · Cloud console / configuration management
  • Agenda/minutes/documentation from configuration change control oversight meetings · Cloud console / configuration management
  • Test of Organizational processes for configuration change control; mechanisms that implement configuration change control · 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 architecture and configuration documentation · Policy repository / GRC workspace
  • System security plan · 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-2(7) Baseline Configuration | Configure Systems and Components for High-risk Areas · CM-3(1) Configuration Change Control | Automated Documentation, Notification, and Prohibition of Changes