3.11.3Fix what you find
Remediate findings in line with your risk assessment, on a timeline you set.
The requirement, verbatim
NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 · 3.11.3Remediate vulnerabilities in accordance with risk assessments.
NIST's discussion
Vulnerabilities discovered, for example, via the scanning conducted in response to RA.L2-3.11.2, are remediated with consideration of the related assessment of risk. The consideration of risk influences the prioritization of remediation efforts and the level of effort to be expended in the remediation for specific vulnerabilities.
NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, discussion under 3.11.3. Whitespace normalised; wording unchanged.
Assessment objectives
An assessor decides each of these separately. The requirement is met only when every objective is.
- [a] vulnerabilities are remediated in accordance with risk assessments
NIST SP 800-171A, determination statements for 3.11.3.
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
- Risk assessment policy
- procedures addressing vulnerability scanning
- risk assessment
- system security plan
- security assessment report
- vulnerability scanning tools and associated configuration documentation
- vulnerability scanning results
- patch and vulnerability management records
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Personnel with risk assessment, security assessment and vulnerability scanning responsibilities
- personnel with vulnerability scan analysis responsibilities
- personnel with vulnerability remediation responsibilities
- personnel with information security responsibilities
- system or network administrators
Test
- Organizational processes for vulnerability scanning, analysis, remediation, and information sharing
- mechanisms supporting or implementing vulnerability scanning, analysis, remediation, and information sharing
NIST SP 800-171A, potential assessment methods and objects for 3.11.3.
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: 03.11.02 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning.
See the Rev. 2 and Rev. 3 wording word by word, or start with the status page.
Related requirements
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)