NIST 800-171 3.13.3 (SC.L2-3.13.3): Management Separation

Separate user functionality from system management functionality.

NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 2, requirement 3.13.3

CMMC Level 2 practice SC.L2-3.13.3Published 2026-11-11

What 3.13.3 means in practice

Keep the functions ordinary users work with apart from the functions used to manage the system. Administration typically happens through separate interfaces, accounts, networks or hosts, so a compromised user session does not lead straight to management access.

SPRS points and the CMMC POA&M

CMMC Level 2 practice: SC.L2-3.13.3
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 3.13.3

NIST SP 800-171A gives 3 determination statements for 3.13.3, each found satisfied or other than satisfied. Determine if:

3.13.3[a] user functionality is identified.
3.13.3[b] system management functionality is identified.
3.13.3[c] user functionality is separated from system management functionality.

NIST SP 800-171A (June 2018), assessment objectives for 3.13.3

Evidence that shows 3.13.3 is met

A description of how user functions and management functions are separated.
Network or host configuration placing management interfaces on separate networks or hosts.
Firewall rules restricting management ports to administrative networks.

How PolicyCortex gathers the evidence

PolicyCortex reads this evidence with the collectors below, read only, and grades 3.13.3 from it. Each line says what the product checks.

Azure: Network security groups. Checks that network security group rules keep management ports (RDP and SSH) closed to the internet.

Related pages

Calculator: SPRS score calculator: mark 3.13.3 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 16 System and Communications Protection requirements (3.13).
Previous: 3.13.2: Security Engineering
Next: 3.13.4: Shared Resources
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.