What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 2.3.1 Wireless vendor defaults changed or confirmed secure?

Wireless installation procedure requiring default keys, passwords and SNMP settings to be changed; Wireless controller and access point configurations showing non-default credentials and SNMP settings; Observation record of an administrator log-in to wireless devices; Commissioning checklists for recently installed access points.

What is the most common gap auditors find on 2.3.1?

Access points deployed with default admin passwords or default SNMP community strings

PCI DSS v4.0.1 · Req 2: Secure Configurations

`2.3.1` Wireless vendor defaults changed or confirmed secure

For wireless environments that connect to the CDE or carry account data, every wireless vendor default must be changed at installation or confirmed as secure, including but not limited to: (a) default wireless encryption keys; (b) passwords on wireless access points; (c) SNMP defaults; and (d) any further wireless vendor default that affects security. Applicability: the scope explicitly includes the same four categories and is not limited to them. Customized approach objective: default vendor passwords or out-of-the-box settings cannot be used to get into wireless networks.

Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 2.3.1. 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

Wireless installation procedure requiring default keys, passwords and SNMP settings to be changed · Identity provider / directory
Wireless controller and access point configurations showing non-default credentials and SNMP settings · Identity provider / directory

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Observation record of an administrator log-in to wireless devices · Endpoint management (MDM / EDR)

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

Commissioning checklists for recently installed access points · Document repository

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

Access points deployed with default admin passwords or default SNMP community strings
Default SSID and encryption keys retained on branch or store wireless equipment
Procedure covers controllers but not standalone or third-party managed access points

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

2.2.7 Non-console administrative access encrypted · 2.3.2 Wireless encryption keys changed on triggers