SC-17_public-key-infrastructure-certificates

DevOps & Security

Issue public key certificates under an [organization-defined] or obtain public key certificates from an approved service provider;

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/CyberStrikeus/CyberStrike/blob/HEAD/.cyberstrike/skill/NIST/SP800-53_rev5/SC_system-and-communications-protection/SC-17_public-key-infrastructure-certificates/SKILL.md

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SC-17 Public Key Infrastructure Certificates

High-Level Description

Family: System and Communications Protection (SC) Framework: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

Public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates are certificates with visibility external to organizational systems and certificates related to the internal operations of systems, such as application-specific time services. In cryptographic systems with a hierarchical structure, a trust anchor is an authoritative source (i.e., a certificate authority) for which trust is assumed and not derived. A root certificate for a PKI system is an example of a trust anchor. A trust store or certificate store maintains a list of trusted root certificates.

What to Check

Verify SC-17 Public Key Infrastructure Certificates is documented in SSP
Validate all 2 control requirements are implemented
Confirm control is operating effectively
Review evidence of continuous monitoring for SC-17

How to Test

Step 1: Review Documentation

Examine the System Security Plan (SSP) and related artifacts for SC-17 implementation details. Verify the organization has documented how this control is satisfied.

Step 2: Validate Implementation

# For cloud environments, use cloud-audit-mcp tools
# For on-premises, review system configurations directly

# Example: Check if account management policies exist
grep -r "account.management\|access.control" /etc/security/ 2>/dev/null

Step 3: Test Operating Effectiveness

Verify the control is actively functioning, not just documented. Check logs, configurations, and operational evidence.

Tools

Tool	Purpose	Usage
cloud-audit-mcp	Check encryption and network controls	`cloud_audit_encryption`
nmap	Network scanning	`nmap -sV --script ssl-enum-ciphers`

Remediation Guide

Control Statement

Issue public key certificates under an [organization-defined] or obtain public key certificates from an approved service provider; and Include only approved trust anchors in trust stores or certificate stores managed by the organization.

Implementation Guidance

Risk Assessment

Finding	Severity	Impact
SC-17 Public Key Infrastructure Certificates not implemented	High	System and Communications Protection
SC-17 partially implemented	Medium	Incomplete System and Communications Protection

CWE Categories

CWE ID	Title
CWE-311	Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data

References

Checklist

Control documented in SSP
Implementation evidence collected
Operating effectiveness validated
Continuous monitoring in place
Related controls (AU-10, IA-5, SC-12) reviewed