CM-1 — Policy and Procedures

Official NIST control content

Control statement

a.Develop, document, and disseminate to [Organization-defined: organization-defined personnel or roles]:
1. 1.[Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] configuration management policy that:
  1. (a)Addresses purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities, management commitment, coordination among organizational entities, and compliance; and
  2. (b)Is consistent with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines; and
2. 2.Procedures to facilitate the implementation of the configuration management policy and the associated configuration management controls;
b.Designate an [Organization-defined: official] to manage the development, documentation, and dissemination of the configuration management policy and procedures; and
c.Review and update the current configuration management:
1. 1.Policy [Organization-defined: frequency] and following [Organization-defined: events] ; and
2. 2.Procedures [Organization-defined: frequency] and following [Organization-defined: events].

Official NIST discussion

Discussion

Configuration management policy and procedures address the controls in the CM family that are implemented within systems and organizations. The risk management strategy is an important factor in establishing such policies and procedures. Policies and procedures contribute to security and privacy assurance. Therefore, it is important that security and privacy programs collaborate on the development of configuration management policy and procedures. Security and privacy program policies and procedures at the organization level are preferable, in general, and may obviate the need for mission- or system-specific policies and procedures. The policy can be included as part of the general security and privacy policy or be represented by multiple policies that reflect the complex nature of organizations. Procedures can be established for security and privacy programs, for mission/business processes, and for systems, if needed. Procedures describe how the policies or controls are implemented and can be directed at the individual or role that is the object of the procedure. Procedures can be documented in system security and privacy plans or in one or more separate documents. Events that may precipitate an update to configuration management policy and procedures include, but are not limited to, assessment or audit findings, security incidents or breaches, or changes in applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines. Simply restating controls does not constitute an organizational policy or procedure.

Official OSCAL parameters

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.

organization-defined personnel or roles

personnel or rolespersonnel or roles to whom the configuration management policy is to be disseminated is/are defined;

personnel or rolespersonnel or roles to whom the configuration management procedures are to be disseminated is/are defined;

cm-01_odp.03

officialan official to manage the configuration management policy and procedures is defined;

frequencythe frequency at which the current configuration management policy is reviewed and updated is defined;

eventsevents that would require the current configuration management policy to be reviewed and updated are defined;

frequencythe frequency at which the current configuration management procedures are reviewed and updated is defined;

eventsevents that would require configuration management procedures to be reviewed and updated are defined;

Original Bare Metal Cyber perspective

From control text to operational evidence

Use Policy and Procedures 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 secure baselines, controlled change, configuration visibility, and drift management.

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

approved baseline configurations
change tickets and approvals
configuration scans and drift reports
software and hardware inventories

Common failure patterns

baselines documented but not enforced
emergency changes never reconciled
asset inventories that omit cloud or ephemeral resources
security-impact analysis performed after deployment

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?

Official NIST SP 800-53A content

Assessment objectives and methods

Show the assessment objective

CM-01a.
1. CM-01a.[01]a configuration management policy is developed and documented;
2. CM-01a.[02]the configuration management policy is disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
3. CM-01a.[03]configuration management procedures to facilitate the implementation of the configuration management policy and associated configuration management controls are developed and documented;
4. CM-01a.[04]the configuration management procedures are disseminated to [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
5. CM-01a.01
  1. CM-01a.01(a)
    1. CM-01a.01(a)[01]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses purpose;
    2. CM-01a.01(a)[02]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses scope;
    3. CM-01a.01(a)[03]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses roles;
    4. CM-01a.01(a)[04]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses responsibilities;
    5. CM-01a.01(a)[05]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses management commitment;
    6. CM-01a.01(a)[06]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses coordination among organizational entities;
    7. CM-01a.01(a)[07]the [Organization-defined: cm-01_odp.03] of the configuration management policy addresses compliance;
  2. CM-01a.01(b)the configuration management policy is consistent with applicable laws, Executive Orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines;
CM-01b.the [Organization-defined: official] is designated to manage the development, documentation, and dissemination of the configuration management policy and procedures;
CM-01c.
1. CM-01c.01
  1. CM-01c.01[01]the current configuration management policy is reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency];
  2. CM-01c.01[02]the current configuration management policy is reviewed and updated following [Organization-defined: events];
2. CM-01c.02
  1. CM-01c.02[01]the current configuration management procedures are reviewed and updated [Organization-defined: frequency];
  2. CM-01c.02[02]the current configuration management procedures are reviewed and updated following [Organization-defined: events].

Examine

Configuration management policy and procedures
security and privacy program policies and procedures
assessment or audit findings
documentation of security incidents or breaches
system security plan
privacy plan
risk management strategy
other relevant artifacts, documents, or records

Interview

Organizational personnel with configuration management responsibilities
organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities

Official relationships

Related controls

These relationships come from the official OSCAL catalog. They indicate useful dependencies or context, not automatic inheritance or equivalence.

Source record

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.