What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 1.2.2 Network connection and NSC changes under change control?

Change management procedure explicitly covering network connections and NSC configuration changes; Sample of change tickets for firewall rule and connection changes with approvals, impact analysis and post-change verification; NSC configuration diff or audit log reconciled to approved change tickets; Records showing network diagrams were updated after approved connection changes.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 1.2.2?

Emergency rule changes made directly on firewalls with no retrospective ticket

PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 1: Network Security Controls

`1.2.2` Network connection and NSC changes under change control

Every change to network connections and every change to the configuration of network security controls must be approved and handled through the formal change control process defined in Requirement 6.5.1. Applicability: a change to a network connection means adding, removing or altering a connection; a change to an NSC configuration includes changes to the device itself and changes that affect how it enforces security. Customized approach objective: changes to connections and NSCs do not lead to misconfigured devices, insecure services being introduced, or unauthorised connections.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 1.2.2. 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 PCI DSS v4.0.1 in the compliance library.

Version 4.0.1 is the active version; 4.0 has been retired. Appendix A1 applies only to multi-tenant service providers, A2 only to card-present POS POI terminals that still use SSL or early TLS, and A3 only when a payment brand or acquirer requires it. Which requirements apply to you follows your validation type.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

moderate

to go live

SIEM / log platform

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

NSC configuration diff or audit log reconciled to approved change tickets · SIEM / log platform

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Sample of change tickets for firewall rule and connection changes with approvals, impact analysis and post-change verification · Ticketing / ITSM
Records showing network diagrams were updated after approved connection changes · Ticketing / ITSM

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Change management procedure explicitly covering network connections and NSC configuration changes · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Start with the 1 of 4 artefacts that already live in a system (SIEM / log platform); keep the periodic reviews but log each one as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Emergency rule changes made directly on firewalls with no retrospective ticket
Cloud security group changes made through the console bypass the change process
Change tickets approved by the same engineer who implemented the change, with no evidence of verification

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

1.2.1 Ruleset configuration standards for NSCs · 1.2.3 Accurate network diagram of CDE connections