CMMC Navigatorby Foxx Cyber Bedrock CMMC

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3.4.1Know what you have and how it is set up

A current inventory and a documented baseline configuration for each type of system.

The requirement, verbatim

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 · 3.4.1

Establish and maintain baseline configurations and inventories of organizational systems (including hardware, software, firmware, and documentation) throughout the respective system development life cycles.

Requirement 3.4.1, practice name in the CMMC assessment guide: System Baselining.

NIST's discussion

This requirement establishes and maintains baseline configurations for systems and system components including for system communications and connectivity. Baseline configurations are documented, formally reviewed, and agreed-upon sets of specifications for systems or configuration items within those systems. Baseline configurations serve as a basis for future builds, releases, and changes to systems. Baseline configurations include information about system components (e.g., standard software packages installed on workstations, notebook computers, servers, network components, or mobile devices; current version numbers and update and patch information on operating systems and applications; and configuration settings and parameters), network topology, and the logical placement of those components within the system architecture. Baseline configurations of systems also reflect the current enterprise architecture. Maintaining effective baseline configurations requires creating new baselines as organizational systems change over time. Baseline configuration maintenance includes reviewing and updating the baseline configuration when changes are made based on security risks and deviations from the established baseline configuration.

Organizations can implement centralized system component inventories that include components from multiple organizational systems. In such situations, organizations ensure that the resulting inventories include system-specific information required for proper component accountability (e.g., system association, system owner). Information deemed necessary for effective accountability of system components includes hardware inventory specifications, software license information, software version numbers, component owners, and for networked components or devices, machine names and network addresses. Inventory specifications include manufacturer, device type, model, serial number, and physical location.

NIST SP 800-128 provides guidance on security-focused configuration management.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, discussion under 3.4.1. Whitespace normalised; wording unchanged.

Assessment objectives

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

  1. [a] a baseline configuration is established
  2. [b] the baseline configuration includes hardware, software, firmware, and documentation
  3. [c] the baseline configuration is maintained (reviewed and updated) throughout the system development life cycle
  4. [d] a system inventory is established
  5. [e] the system inventory includes hardware, software, firmware, and documentation
  6. [f] the inventory is maintained (reviewed and updated) throughout the system development life cycle

NIST SP 800-171A, determination statements for 3.4.1.

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
  • Configuration management policy
  • procedures addressing the baseline configuration of the system
  • procedures addressing system inventory
  • system design documentation
  • system security plan
  • system configuration settings and associated documentation
  • configuration management plan
  • baseline configuration
  • system component inventory
  • inventory system records
  • change control records
  • system audit logs and records
  • other relevant documents or records
Interview
  • Personnel with configuration management responsibilities
  • personnel with information security responsibilities
  • system or network administrators
Test
  • Organizational processes for managing baseline configurations
  • mechanisms supporting configuration management of baseline configurations

NIST SP 800-171A, potential assessment methods and objects for 3.4.1.

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 5 points. Not meeting this requirement subtracts 5 from your 110-point SPRS score. These are the requirements with the largest effect on your posture.

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 reworded: 03.04.01 Baseline Configuration. It gains organization-defined parameters.

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)