8.4.2 MFA for all non-console CDE access
Every form of non-console access into the CDE, not only administrative access, must be protected with MFA. Applicability: excludes system or application accounts that run automated functions, to point-of-sale terminal user accounts that are limited to a single card number per transaction, or to user accounts authenticated only with phishing-resistant factors. MFA is required separately for this access and for remote access under 8.4.3, so a user who connects remotely to the network and then into the CDE authenticates with MFA twice. It covers every kind of system component (cloud and hosted systems, on-premises applications, workstations, servers, endpoints and network security devices) and both direct network or system access and web-based access to applications. MFA may be applied at network or system/application level, not necessarily both. Objective under the customized approach: access into the CDE cannot be gained with a single authentication factor. Future-dated: treated as a best practice up to 31 March 2025 and mandatory since then.
Source: PCI DSS v4.0.1, 8.4.2. 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.
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
- MFA or SSO conditional access policies scoped to CDE resources · Identity provider / directory
- List of accounts exempted as automated or phishing-resistant, with justification · Identity provider / directory
periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review
- Observation records of non-administrative users authenticating into the CDE · Identity provider / directory
governing documentDocuments that govern the control
- Inventory of all non-console entry paths into the CDE, including web applications, with the MFA point for each · Policy repository / GRC workspace
First move
Common gaps auditors find
- Non-admin users of CDE web applications authenticate with password only
- Users on the internal network reach the CDE without a second MFA prompt after remote login
- Exemptions claimed for phishing-resistant factors without evidence of that factor type
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 sheet8.4.1 MFA for non-console administrative CDE access · 8.4.3 MFA for remote access that could reach CDE