What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 2.2.2 Vendor default accounts managed?

Inventory of vendor default accounts per system type with disposition (used and re-passworded, or removed/disabled); Configuration files or directory exports showing unused default accounts disabled or deleted; Evidence that retained default accounts use passwords meeting Requirement 8.3.6; Observation record of failed log-on attempts using known default credentials; SNMP configuration showing default community strings changed.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 2.2.2?

Default credentials remain on POS terminals, network appliances or out-of-band management interfaces

PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 2: Secure Configurations

`2.2.2` Vendor default accounts managed

Vendor default accounts must be handled as follows: (a) where a vendor default account will be used, its default password is changed in line with Requirement 8.3.6; and (b) where it will stay unused, the account is disabled or deleted. Applicability: every vendor default account and password is covered, for example those of operating systems, security software, application and system accounts, POS terminals, payment applications and SNMP defaults; it also applies to components not installed in the entity's environment, such as CDE software and applications consumed through a cloud subscription. Objective under the customized approach: default passwords cannot be used to access system components.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 2.2.2. 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

easy

to go live

Identity provider / directory

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

Inventory of vendor default accounts per system type with disposition (used and re-passworded, or removed/disabled) · Identity provider / directory
Configuration files or directory exports showing unused default accounts disabled or deleted · Identity provider / directory
SNMP configuration showing default community strings changed · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Evidence that retained default accounts use passwords meeting Requirement 8.3.6 · Identity provider / directory
Observation record of failed log-on attempts using known default credentials · Identity provider / directory

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

none for this control

First move

Automate the pull from your Identity provider / directory. Scheduled export of users, roles and MFA state from the directory; access-review completion pulled from the IdP, not a spreadsheet.

Common gaps auditors find

Default credentials remain on POS terminals, network appliances or out-of-band management interfaces
SaaS or cloud subscription admin accounts retain vendor-provided initial passwords
Default accounts disabled but the default password left unchanged, allowing re-enablement

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

2.2.1 System configuration standards maintained · 2.2.3 Primary functions with different security levels managed