NIST 800-171 3.1.11 (AC.L2-3.1.11): Session Termination

Terminate (automatically) a user session after a defined condition.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, requirement 3.1.11

CMMC Level 2 practice AC.L2-3.1.11Published 2026-11-11

What 3.1.11 means in practice

This is not a screen lock: the session itself ends and the user has to sign in again. Define the conditions, such as a maximum session length, a period of inactivity or a security event, and set the identity provider, VPN and applications to end sessions when one of them occurs.

SPRS points and the CMMC POA&M

CMMC Level 2 practice: AC.L2-3.1.11
SPRS points: 1 point. When it is not met, the DoD Assessment Methodology subtracts 1 from the score of 110.
CMMC POA&M: Allowed. It is worth 1 point, and 32 CFR 170.21(a)(2)(ii) admits requirements worth 1 point. Conditional status also needs a score of at least 88, and the item must be closed within 180 days.

Sources: NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Methodology, version 1.2.1 (June 24, 2020), Annex A; 32 CFR 170.21, Plan of Action and Milestones requirements.

What an assessor checks for 3.1.11

NIST SP 800-171A gives 2 determination statements for 3.1.11, each found satisfied or other than satisfied. Determine if:

3.1.11[a] conditions requiring a user session to terminate are defined.
3.1.11[b] a user session is automatically terminated after any of the defined conditions occur.

NIST SP 800-171A (June 2018), assessment objectives for 3.1.11

Evidence that shows 3.1.11 is met

The defined conditions that end a session.
Identity provider session settings, such as sign-in frequency or maximum session lifetime.
VPN and application session timeout settings.
A test showing a session ended after a defined condition.

How PolicyCortex gathers the evidence

PolicyCortex reads this evidence with the collectors below, read only, and grades 3.1.11 from it. Each line says what the product checks.

Microsoft Entra ID: Conditional Access. Checks Conditional Access session controls that end a session after inactivity or a maximum lifetime.
Okta: Policies. Checks that Okta ends every session within 12 hours.

Related pages

Calculator: SPRS score calculator: mark 3.1.11 and the other 109 requirements and see the score.
Sample package: Sample package: an SSP, a POA&M and an evidence chain the product generated from demonstration data.
Family: All 22 Access Control requirements (3.1).
Previous: 3.1.10: Session Lock
Next: 3.1.12: Remote Access Control
All requirements: All 110 NIST SP 800-171 requirements, by family.

Related records

Guides and articles describe the work. The evidence that work produces is described in three proof pages, the architecture page, and the two pages on authorization.

proof.state: Proof of State. What the environment was, as of a date someone else picks: point-in-time records, content hashed and chained.
proof.change: Proof of Change. Who or what altered the environment, under what authority, with before and after state hashes.
proof.agency: Proof of Agency. What a machine was permitted to do before it acted, what it did, and what would have stopped it.
architecture: Architecture. How the chain is built and where the evidence is stored in each delivery mode.
authorization: Continuous ATO. How an authorizing official's decision is recorded with its package, and how the authorized system is checked against it every hour.
baseline: NIST SP 800-53. The Low, Moderate and High baselines as evidence, with the SSP, SAR and POA&M generated from one record.