3.5.9Force a change after a temporary password

Any password you issue is changed on first use.

The requirement, verbatim

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 · 3.5.9
Allow temporary password use for system logons with an immediate change to a permanent password.

Requirement 3.5.9, practice name in the CMMC assessment guide: Temporary Passwords.

NIST's discussion

Changing temporary passwords to permanent passwords immediately after system logon ensures that the necessary strength of the authentication mechanism is implemented at the earliest opportunity, reducing the susceptibility to authenticator compromises.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, discussion under 3.5.9. Whitespace normalised; wording unchanged.

Assessment objectives

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

[a] use of temporary passwords for system logons is allowed
[b] an immediate change to a permanent password is required when using a temporary password

NIST SP 800-171A, determination statements for 3.5.9.

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

Identification and authentication policy
password policy
procedures addressing authenticator management
system security plan
system configuration settings and associated documentation
system design documentation
password configurations and associated documentation
other relevant documents or records

Interview

Personnel with authenticator management responsibilities
personnel with information security responsibilities
system or network administrators
system developers

Test

Mechanisms supporting or implementing password-based authenticator management capability

NIST SP 800-171A, potential assessment methods and objects for 3.5.9.

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 with no successor.

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)