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AC-6(5) AC · Access Control

Privileged Accounts

LOW ✓ MODERATE ✓ HIGH
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Requirements NIST SOURCE

Restrict privileged accounts on the system to [personnel or roles].

Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)

Privileged accounts, including super user accounts, are typically described as system administrator for various types of commercial off-the-shelf operating systems. Restricting privileged accounts to specific personnel or roles prevents day-to-day users from accessing privileged information or privileged functions. Organizations may differentiate in the application of restricting privileged accounts between allowed privileges for local accounts and for domain accounts provided that they retain the ability to control system configurations for key parameters and as otherwise necessary to sufficiently mitigate risk.

Implementation Guidance

Engineering Interpretation

Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.

No engineering interpretation has been authored for AC-6(5) yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.

Assessment

NIST SP 800-53A REV 5.2.0

Assessment Objectives

  1. personnel or roles to which privileged accounts on the system are to be restricted is/are defined;
  2. privileged accounts on the system are restricted to <AC-06(05)_ODP personnel or roles>.

Examine

[SELECT FROM: Access control policy; procedures addressing least privilege; list of system-generated privileged accounts; list of system administration personnel; system configuration settings and associated documentation; system audit records; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].

Interview

[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with responsibilities for defining least privileges necessary to accomplish specified tasks; organizational personnel with information security responsibilities; system/network administrators].

Test

[SELECT FROM: Mechanisms implementing least privilege functions].

Overlays

Showing the OT/ICS overlay for the parent control AC-6 — see the AC-6(5) entries within each baseline below.

OT/ICS Overlay SP 800-82r3

NIST SP 800-82r3 Appendix F, Table 22. Blank baseline means the control/control enhancement is not selected in that initial OT baseline.

LOW

Not applicable at this tier.

MODERATE

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
  • Included: (1) (2) (5) (7) (9) (10)

HIGH

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
  • Included: (1) (2) (3) (5) (7) (9) (10)

STIGs & CCIs

No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for AC-6(5). This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.

Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →

Evidence

Potential Evidence — Derived

Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.

Policy

  • Access control policy
  • system security plan

Configuration

  • system configuration settings and associated documentation

Testing

  • Mechanisms implementing least privilege functions

Other Records

  • procedures addressing least privilege
  • list of system-generated privileged accounts
  • list of system administration personnel
  • system audit records
  • other relevant documents or records