Control statement
Develop, document, and implement a configuration management plan for the system that:
- a.Addresses roles, responsibilities, and configuration management processes and procedures;
- b.Establishes a process for identifying configuration items throughout the system development life cycle and for managing the configuration of the configuration items;
- c.Defines the configuration items for the system and places the configuration items under configuration management;
- d.Is reviewed and approved by [Organization-defined: personnel or roles] ; and
- e.Protects the configuration management plan from unauthorized disclosure and modification.
Discussion
Configuration management activities occur throughout the system development life cycle. As such, there are developmental configuration management activities (e.g., the control of code and software libraries) and operational configuration management activities (e.g., control of installed components and how the components are configured). Configuration management plans satisfy the requirements in configuration management policies while being tailored to individual systems. Configuration management plans define processes and procedures for how configuration management is used to support system development life cycle activities. Configuration management plans are generated during the development and acquisition stage of the system development life cycle. The plans describe how to advance changes through change management processes; update configuration settings and baselines; maintain component inventories; control development, test, and operational environments; and develop, release, and update key documents. Organizations can employ templates to help ensure the consistent and timely development and implementation of configuration management plans. Templates can represent a configuration management plan for the organization with subsets of the plan implemented on a system by system basis. Configuration management approval processes include the designation of key stakeholders responsible for reviewing and approving proposed changes to systems, and personnel who conduct security and privacy impact analyses prior to the implementation of changes to the systems. Configuration items are the system components, such as the hardware, software, firmware, and documentation to be configuration-managed. As systems continue through the system development life cycle, new configuration items may be identified, and some existing configuration items may no longer need to be under configuration control.
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 Configuration Management Plan 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?
Assessment objectives and methods
Show the assessment objective
- CM-09[01]a configuration management plan for the system is developed and documented;
- CM-09[02]a configuration management plan for the system is implemented;
- CM-09a.
- CM-09a.[01]the configuration management plan addresses roles;
- CM-09a.[02]the configuration management plan addresses responsibilities;
- CM-09a.[03]the configuration management plan addresses configuration management processes and procedures;
- CM-09b.
- CM-09b.[01]the configuration management plan establishes a process for identifying configuration items throughout the system development life cycle;
- CM-09b.[02]the configuration management plan establishes a process for managing the configuration of the configuration items;
- CM-09c.
- CM-09c.[01]the configuration management plan defines the configuration items for the system;
- CM-09c.[02]the configuration management plan places the configuration items under configuration management;
- CM-09d.the configuration management plan is reviewed and approved by [Organization-defined: personnel or roles];
- CM-09e.
- CM-09e.[01]the configuration management plan is protected from unauthorized disclosure;
- CM-09e.[02]the configuration management plan is protected from unauthorized modification.
Examine
- Configuration management policy
- procedures addressing configuration management planning
- configuration management plan
- system design documentation
- system security plan
- privacy plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with responsibilities for developing the configuration management plan
- organizational personnel with responsibilities for implementing and managing processes defined in the configuration management plan
- organizational personnel with responsibilities for protecting the configuration management plan
- organizational personnel with information security and privacy responsibilities
- system/network administrators
Test
- Organizational processes for developing and documenting the configuration management plan
- organizational processes for identifying and managing configuration items
- organizational processes for protecting the configuration management plan
- mechanisms implementing the configuration management plan
- mechanisms for managing configuration items
- mechanisms for protecting the configuration management plan
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.
CM-9(1) — Assignment of Responsibility
Assign responsibility for developing the configuration management process to organizational personnel that are not directly involved in system development.
Official discussion
In the absence of dedicated configuration management teams assigned within organizations, system developers may be tasked with developing configuration management processes using personnel who are not directly involved in system development or system integration. This separation of duties ensures that organizations establish and maintain a sufficient degree of independence between the system development and integration processes and configuration management processes to facilitate quality control and more effective oversight.
Assessment objectives and methods
the responsibility for developing the configuration management process is assigned to organizational personnel who are not directly involved in system development.
Examine
- Configuration management policy
- procedures addressing responsibilities for configuration management process development
- configuration management plan
- system security plan
- system security plan
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Organizational personnel with responsibilities for configuration management process development
- organizational personnel with information security responsibilities
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.