A question of compliance semantics: what is the practical difference between a "vulnerability in an organizational system" and a "system flaw"?
#NIST SP #800-171 control 3.11.2 states that we must "scan for vulnerabilities in organizational systems..." and control 3.11.3 goes on to require the remediation of those vulnerabilities.
Control 3.14.1 requires us to "identify, report, and correct system flaws..."
Expansion of 3.14.1 includes this: "Organizations identify systems that are affected by announced software and firmware flaws including potential vulnerabilities resulting from those flaws..."
Expansion of 3.11.2 includes this: "Vulnerability scanning includes: scanning for patch levels; scanning for functions, ports, protocols, and services that should not be accessible to users or devices; and scanning for improperly configured or incorrectly operating information flow control mechanisms."
NIST's definition of a flaw is an "imperfection or defect." Their definition of a vulnerability is a "weakness in an information system, system security procedures, internal controls, or implementation that could be exploited or triggered by a threat source."
Domain 11 in NIST SP 800-171 is about risk, and domain 14 is about integrity. So, my interpretation about the difference between a vulnerability and a flaw in this context is:
-A vulnerability happens when the organization fails to maintain their own information system environment in a secure state, such as leaving ports open, not patching, etc. The onus is on the organization.
-A system flaw happens when a misconfiguration or error is introduced into the organization's environment through the use of a vendor's / third-party's product, through which the organization must rely on that vendor for a remediation (or cease to use the product). Onus is on the vendor.
Thoughts?
#infosec #cmmc #riskmanagement #vulnerabilitymanagement #compliance