PR.IP-12: A vulnerability management plan is developed and implemented

Develop, document, and disseminate to [Assignment: organization-defined personnel or roles]: [Assignment (one or more): organization-level, mission/business process-level, system-level] risk assessment policy that: Addresses purpose, scope, roles, responsibilities, management commitment, coordination among organizational entities, and compliance; and Is consistent with applicable laws, executive orders, directives, regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines; and Procedures to facilitate the implementation…

Conduct a risk assessment, including: Identifying threats to and vulnerabilities in the system; Determining the likelihood and magnitude of harm from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction of the system, the information it processes, stores, or transmits, and any related information; and Determining the likelihood and impact of adverse effects on individuals arising…

Monitor and scan for vulnerabilities in the system and hosted applications [Assignment: organization-defined frequency and/or randomly in accordance with organization-defined process] and when new vulnerabilities potentially affecting the system are identified and reported; Employ vulnerability monitoring tools and techniques that facilitate interoperability among tools and automate parts of the vulnerability management process by using standards…

Identify, report, and correct system flaws; Test software and firmware updates related to flaw remediation for effectiveness and potential side effects before installation; Install security-relevant software and firmware updates within [Assignment: organization-defined time period] of the release of the updates; and Incorporate flaw remediation into the organizational configuration management process.

Organizations determine the required vulnerability scanning for all system components, ensuring that potential sources of vulnerabilities such as networked printers, scanners, and copiers are not overlooked. The vulnerabilities to be scanned are readily updated as new vulnerabilities are discovered, announced, and scanning methods developed. This process ensures that potential vulnerabilities in the system are identified…

Vulnerabilities discovered, for example, via the scanning conducted in response to 3.11.2, are remediated with consideration of the related assessment of risk. The consideration of risk influences the prioritization of remediation efforts and the level of effort to be expended in the remediation for specific vulnerabilities.

The plan of action is a key document in the information security program. Organizations develop plans of action that describe how any unimplemented security requirements will be met and how any planned mitigations will be implemented. Organizations can document the system security plan and plan of action as separate or combined documents and in any…

Continuous monitoring programs facilitate ongoing awareness of threats, vulnerabilities, and information security to support organizational risk management decisions. The terms continuous and ongoing imply that organizations assess and analyze security controls and information security-related risks at a frequency sufficient to support risk-based decisions. The results of continuous monitoring programs generate appropriate risk response actions by…

Organizations identify systems that are affected by announced software and firmware flaws including potential vulnerabilities resulting from those flaws and report this information to designated personnel with information security responsibilities. Security-relevant updates include patches, service packs, hot fixes, and anti-virus signatures. Organizations address flaws discovered during security assessments, continuous monitoring, incident response activities, and system…

Designated locations include system entry and exit points which may include firewalls, remote- access servers, workstations, electronic mail servers, web servers, proxy servers, notebook computers, and mobile devices. Malicious code includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. Malicious code can be encoded in various formats (e.g., UUENCODE, Unicode), contained within compressed or hidden files, or…

There are many publicly available sources of system security alerts and advisories. For example, the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) generates security alerts and advisories to maintain situational awareness across the federal government and in nonfederal organizations. Software vendors, subscription services, and industry information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs) may…