Control statement
- a.Identify [Organization-defined: user actions] that can be performed on the system without identification or authentication consistent with organizational mission and business functions; and
- b.Document and provide supporting rationale in the security plan for the system, user actions not requiring identification or authentication.
Discussion
Specific user actions may be permitted without identification or authentication if organizations determine that identification and authentication are not required for the specified user actions. Organizations may allow a limited number of user actions without identification or authentication, including when individuals access public websites or other publicly accessible federal systems, when individuals use mobile phones to receive calls, or when facsimiles are received. Organizations identify actions that normally require identification or authentication but may, under certain circumstances, allow identification or authentication mechanisms to be bypassed. Such bypasses may occur, for example, via a software-readable physical switch that commands bypass of the logon functionality and is protected from accidental or unmonitored use. Permitting actions without identification or authentication does not apply to situations where identification and authentication have already occurred and are not repeated but rather to situations where identification and authentication have not yet occurred. Organizations may decide that there are no user actions that can be performed on organizational systems without identification and authentication, and therefore, the value for the assignment operation can be "none."
Organization-defined parameters
These values must be resolved through the organization’s tailoring and governance process. Bracketed parameter references in the control text identify where a decision is required.
From control text to operational evidence
Use Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication as a testable risk decision. Translate the official statement into accountable people, repeatable processes, configured technology, and evidence that demonstrates the outcome over time. In this family, pay particular attention to identity, authorization, least privilege, session boundaries, and access lifecycle governance.
Implementation workflow
- Define the control boundary, responsible owner, inherited portions, and systems or processes in scope.
- Resolve each organization-defined parameter before declaring the control implemented.
- Document how the implementation satisfies every clause of the official control statement.
- Collect evidence as a normal byproduct of operation rather than only before an assessment.
- Review exceptions, changes, and monitoring results on a risk-based cadence.
Evidence examples
- access approvals and entitlement records
- role and group configuration exports
- periodic access review results
- authentication and authorization logs
Common failure patterns
- standing privileges that outlive business need
- shared or orphaned accounts
- access rules implemented differently across systems
- approvals that cannot be traced to actual permissions
Questions practitioners should ask
- What risk decision is this control intended to support in this system?
- Which parts are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable—and what evidence supports that decision?
- Do the documented narrative, deployed configuration, operating process, and collected evidence agree?
- What event or threshold requires the implementation to be reviewed or changed?
Assessment objectives and methods
Show the assessment objective
- AC-14a.[Organization-defined: user actions] that can be performed on the system without identification or authentication consistent with organizational mission and business functions are identified;
- AC-14b.
- AC-14b.[01]user actions not requiring identification or authentication are documented in the security plan for the system;
- AC-14b.[02]a rationale for user actions not requiring identification or authentication is provided in the security plan for the system.
Examine
- Access control policy
- procedures addressing permitted actions without identification or authentication
- system configuration settings and associated documentation
- security plan
- list of user actions that can be performed without identification or authentication
- system audit records
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- System/network administrators
- organizational personnel with information security responsibilities
Related controls
These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.
Control enhancements
Enhancements add specificity, strength, or scope to the base control. Baseline badges show explicit selections in the official SP 800-53B OSCAL profiles.
AC-14(1) — Necessary Uses
This enhancement is marked withdrawn in the official OSCAL catalog. Related-control metadata below may identify where its intent was incorporated.
Authoritative sources
Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. Official control requirements and interpretations remain with NIST and the responsible authorizing organization.