Overview
  1. 03.01: Access Control
  2. 03.02: Awareness and Training
  3. 03.03: Audit and Accountability
  4. 03.04: Configuration Management
  5. 03.05: Identification and Authentication
  6. 03.06: Incident Response
  7. 03.07: Maintenance
  8. 03.08: Media Protection
  9. 03.09: Personnel Security
  10. 03.10: Physical Protection
  11. 03.11: Risk Assessment
  12. 03.12: Security Assessment
  13. 03.13: System and Communications Protection
  14. 03.14: System and Information Integrity

Security Requirements for 03.01.06 Non-Privileged Account Use

This requirement limits exposure when operating from within privileged accounts or roles. The inclusion of roles addresses situations where organizations implement access control policies such as role-based access control and where a change of role provides the same degree of assurance in the change of access authorizations for the user and all processes acting on behalf of the user as would be provided by a change between a privileged and non-privileged account.

Assessment GuidanceExamine 0/7

How an assessor determines this requirement is met. Source: CMMC Assessment Guide – Level 2, Version 2.13 (NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2).

Discussion

A user with a privileged account can perform more tasks and access more information than a person with a non-privileged account. Tasks (including unauthorized tasks orchestrated by attackers) performed when using the privileged account can have a greater impact on the

system. System administrators and users with privileged accounts must be trained not to use their privileged accounts for everyday tasks, such as browsing the internet or connecting unnecessarily to other systems or services.

Examples

  1. Example 1

    You are logged in using your privileged account and you need to look up how to reset a nonfunctioning application which processes CUI. You should log on to another computer with your non-privileged account before you connect to the web and start searching for the reset information [b]. That way, if your account is compromised during the search, it will be your regular user account rather than an account with elevated privileges.

Assessment Methods

Examine
The process of reviewing, inspecting, observing, studying, or analyzing assessment objects (e.g., policies, procedures, plans, system designs, mechanisms) to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or obtain evidence.Example: An assessor reads the access control policy and inspects system configuration settings to confirm they match.

Not all of the evidence listed is required to meet this requirement — check the items your organization has collected.

Interview
The process of holding discussions with individuals or groups within an organization to facilitate understanding, achieve clarification, or identify the location of evidence.Example: An assessor asks a system administrator to describe how user accounts are approved, reviewed, and disabled.
  • Personnel with responsibilities for defining least privileges necessary to accomplish specified organizational tasks
  • Personnel with information security responsibilities
  • System or network administrators
Test
The process of exercising assessment objects (e.g., activities, mechanisms) under specified conditions to compare actual behavior with expected behavior.Example: An assessor attempts to sign in with a disabled account to confirm that access is denied.
  • Mechanisms implementing least privilege functions

Potential Assessment Considerations

  • Are nonsecurity functions and non-privileged roles defined [a, b]?
  • Is it required that nonsecurity functions only be accessed with the use of non-privileged accounts?
  • How is this verified [b]?

Key References

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2 3.1.6

Evidence

  1. 03.01.06.a

    Nonsecurity functions are identified

  1. 03.01.06.b

    Users are required to use non-privileged accounts or roles when accessing nonsecurity functions