What this requirement asks
Establish and enforce security configuration settings for information technology products employed in organizational systems.
This is a CMMC Level 2 requirement in the Configuration Management family, drawn from NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2. An assessor evaluates it objective by objective — every objective below must be supported by evidence, not just described in a policy.
Assessment objectives (2)
- 3.4.2[a] — security configuration settings for information technology products employed in the system are established and included in the baseline configuration
- 3.4.2[b] — security configuration settings for information technology products employed in the system are enforced
What an assessor examines
Examine:
- Configuration management policy
- baseline configuration
- procedures addressing configuration settings for the system
- configuration management plan
- system security plan
- system design documentation
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
- security configuration checklists
- evidence supporting approved deviations from established configuration settings
- change control records
- system audit logs and records
- other relevant documents or records
Interview:
- Personnel with security configuration management responsibilities
- personnel with information security responsibilities
- system or network administrators
Test:
- Organizational processes for managing configuration settings
- mechanisms that implement, monitor, and/or control system configuration settings
- mechanisms that identify and/or document deviations from established configuration settings
- processes for managing baseline configurations
- mechanisms supporting configuration control of baseline configurations
Evidence that defends it
Show change workflow proof (tickets/screens)
Check your readiness
Score this requirement against your own environment with the Level 2 self-assessment checklist, or estimate your SPRS score with the free CMMC compliance tool. Self-reported answers are planning signals only — they do not establish a verified or assessor-accepted result.