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3.1.15Approve remote admin work in advance

Running privileged commands remotely is authorized explicitly, not assumed.

The requirement, verbatim

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 · 3.1.15

Authorize remote execution of privileged commands and remote access to security-relevant information.

Requirement 3.1.15, practice name in the CMMC assessment guide: Privileged Remote Access.

NIST's discussion

A privileged command is a human-initiated (interactively or via a process operating on behalf of the human) command executed on a system involving the control, monitoring, or administration of the system including security functions and associated security-relevant information. Security-relevant information is any information within the system that can potentially impact the operation of security functions or the provision of security services in a manner that could result in failure to enforce the system security policy or maintain isolation of code and data. Privileged commands give individuals the ability to execute sensitive, security-critical, or security-relevant system functions. Controlling such access from remote locations helps to ensure that unauthorized individuals are not able to execute such commands freely with the potential to do serious or catastrophic damage to organizational systems. Note that the ability to affect the integrity of the system is considered security-relevant as that could enable the means to by-pass security functions although not directly impacting the function itself.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, discussion under 3.1.15. Whitespace normalised; wording unchanged.

Assessment objectives

An assessor decides each of these separately. The requirement is met only when every objective is.

  1. [a] privileged commands authorized for remote execution are identified
  2. [b] security-relevant information authorized to be accessed remotely is identified
  3. [c] the execution of the identified privileged commands via remote access is authorized
  4. [d] access to the identified security-relevant information via remote access is authorized

NIST SP 800-171A, determination statements for 3.1.15.

For assessors: examine, interview, test

NIST SP 800-171A names what an assessor may examine, whom they may interview, and what they may test for this requirement. Assessors select from these lists; they are not a checklist of everything you must produce.

Examine
  • Access control policy
  • procedures addressing remote access to the system
  • system security plan
  • system design documentation
  • system configuration settings and associated documentation
  • system audit logs and records
  • other relevant documents or records
Interview
  • Personnel with responsibilities for managing remote access connections
  • system or network administrators
  • personnel with information security responsibilities
Test
  • Mechanisms for authorization of remote execution of privileged commands and remote access to security-relevant information

NIST SP 800-171A, potential assessment methods and objects for 3.1.15.

Evidence

No evidence examples are published for this requirement yet. The objectives above are what an assessor checks; evidence is whatever shows each one is true in your environment, dated and kept with your system security plan.

Scoring weight

Worth 1 point. Not meeting this requirement subtracts 1 from your 110-point SPRS score.

DoD NIST SP 800-171 Assessment Methodology v1.2.1 weighting, as carried in the Bedrock scoring table. The score starts at 110 and subtracts the weight of every requirement not met.

In Rev. 3

Rev. 2 is what your contract requires today. A standing DoD class deviation keeps Rev. 2 in force; NIST has published Rev. 3, but it is not adopted for contracts. In Rev. 3 this requirement is withdrawn and incorporated elsewhere: 03.01.12 Remote Access.

See the Rev. 2 and Rev. 3 wording word by word, or start with the status page.

Where this page's facts come from
Requirement text
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:migrations/004_reference_requirements.sql#Requirement.basicRequirement@rev2
Discussion
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:migrations/004_reference_requirements.sql#Requirement.discussion@rev2
Practice name
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:migrations/004_reference_requirements.sql#Requirement.title@rev2 (CMMC Assessment Guide practice name)
Objectives
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:migrations/005_reference_objectives.sql#AssessmentObjective.description@rev2
Examine, interview, test
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:migrations/005_reference_objectives.sql#AssessmentObjective.description@rev2 ({examineGuidance, interviewGuidance, testGuidance})
Level
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:migrations/021_fix_level1_requirements.sql#Requirement.cmmcLevel@rev2
Weight
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:internal/cmmc/requirement_values.go#requirementValues (DoD AM v1.2.1 / eMASS L2 template v3.8)
Rev. 3 mapping
bedrock-cmmc-api@89b8e8e:docs/reference/nist-800-171-rev3/normalized/r2_r3_transition_map.json#r2_to_r3
Plain-language title and summary
editorial/CMMC Navigator.dc.html#RAW (Foxx Cyber editorial)