Security requirement
- a.Employ integrity verification tools to detect unauthorized changes to the following software, firmware, and information: [Organization-defined: organization-defined software, firmware, and information].
- b.Take the following actions when unauthorized changes to the software, firmware, and information are detected: [Organization-defined: organization-defined actions].
Discussion
Verifying the integrity of security-critical or essential software is an important capability since corrupted software is the primary attack vector used by adversaries to undermine or disrupt the proper functioning of systems. Unauthorized changes to software, firmware, and information can occur due to errors or malicious activity. Software includes boot firmware, operating systems with key internal components (e.g., kernels or drivers), middleware, and applications. Firmware interfaces include Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) and Basic Input/Output Systems (BIOS). Information includes CUI and metadata that contains security attributes associated with information. Integrity-checking mechanisms—including parity checks, cyclical redundancy checks, cryptographic hashes, and associated tools—can automatically monitor the integrity of systems and hosted applications. There are many ways to verify software integrity throughout the system development life cycle. Root of trust mechanisms (e.g., secure boot, trusted platform modules, UEFI) verify that only trusted code is executed during boot processes. The employment of cryptographic signatures ensures the integrity and authenticity of critical software that stores, processes, or transmits, CUI. This requirement is sourced to a control tailored out of the SP 800-53B .13 moderate baseline in SP 800-171.
Tailoring decisions required
Resolve these values through the governing organization’s approved tailoring and risk-management process before declaring the requirement implemented.
Protection strategies supported
These classifications are carried from the official SP 800-172 OSCAL record and help explain the enhanced requirement’s defensive purpose.
Implementation perspective
Treat Software, Firmware, and Information Integrity as an enhanced CUI protection outcome for elevated threat conditions that must be reflected in the system boundary, documented implementation, operational behavior, and assessment evidence. Pay particular attention to flaw remediation, malicious-code protection, monitoring, integrity, and trustworthy handling of CUI.
- Confirm the federal agency selected this enhanced requirement for the critical program or high-value asset and identify the CUI system components, services, users, and external connections in scope.
- Resolve every organization-defined parameter through an approved governance and tailoring process.
- Map each clause of the requirement to an accountable owner, implementation mechanism, and evidence source.
- Verify that inherited and shared implementations are supported by current provider evidence and responsibility boundaries.
- Collect evidence during normal operation and review changes, exceptions, and deficiencies on a risk-based cadence.
Questions to ask
- Which critical-program or high-value-asset CUI, data flows, users, and services are protected by this enhanced requirement?
- Which portions are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable, and what evidence supports that determination?
- Do the system security plan, deployed configuration, operating process, and assessment evidence tell the same story?
- What change, incident, or threshold should trigger reassessment?
Evidence and validation
- patch and remediation records
- malware protection configuration
- monitoring alerts and response records
- integrity validation and exception reports
Common failure patterns
- patch compliance hiding unsupported assets
- alerts generated without response ownership
- exceptions that never expire
- integrity monitoring excluding critical configurations
Assessment objectives and methods
Assessment objectives (6)
- a.
integrity verification tools are employed to detect unauthorized changes to [Organization-defined: software].
- a.
integrity verification tools are employed to detect unauthorized changes to [Organization-defined: firmware].
- a.
integrity verification tools are employed to detect unauthorized changes to [Organization-defined: information].
- b.
[Organization-defined: actions] are taken when unauthorized changes to software are detected.
- b.
[Organization-defined: actions] are taken when unauthorized changes to firmware are detected.
- b.
[Organization-defined: actions] are taken when unauthorized changes to information are detected.
Examine
- System and information integrity policy
- system and information integrity procedures
- procedures addressing software, firmware, and information integrity
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
- integrity verification tools and associated documentation
- records generated or triggered by system design documentation
- integrity verification tools regarding unauthorized software, firmware, and information changes
- system audit records
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Personnel responsible for software, firmware, and/or information integrity
- personnel with information security responsibilities
- system/network administrators
Test
- Software, firmware, and information integrity verification tools
Source NIST SP 800-53 controls
These controls are referenced by the official SP 800-172 Rev. 3 OSCAL record. Open the corresponding control pages for complete control text, enhancements, D3FEND mappings, and related learning.
Authoritative sources
- NIST SP 800-172 Revision 3 official publication ↗
- NIST SP 800-172A Revision 3 official publication ↗
- NIST OSCAL Content release used for this import ↗
Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. The official publications, the responsible federal agency, and the governing contract or agreement determine applicability, tailoring, assessment depth, and required implementation.