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Search Search CSRC MENU Search Search Projects Publications Expand or Collapse Drafts for Public Comment All Public Drafts Final Pubs FIPS (standards) Special Publications (SP s ) IR (interagency/internal reports) CSWP (cybersecurity white papers) ITL Bulletins Project Descriptions Journal Articles Conference Papers Books Topics Expand or Collapse Security & Privacy Applications Technologies Sectors Laws & Regulations Activities & Products News & Updates Events Glossary About CSRC Expand or Collapse Computer Security Division Cryptographic Technology Software Security Group Hardware Security Group Security Engineering and Risk Management Applied Cybersecurity Division Cybersecurity and Privacy Applications National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Contact Us Information Technology Laboratory Computer Security Resource Center Publications NIST SP 800-70 Rev. 5 (Initial Public Draft) Obsoleted on May 08, 2026 by SP 800-70 Rev. 5 National Checklist Program for IT Products: Guidelines for Checklist Users and Developers Share to Facebook Share to X Share to LinkedIn Share ia Email Documentation Topics Date Published: December 9, 2025 Comments Due: January 16, 2026 (public comment period is CLOSED) Email Questions to: [email protected] Author(s) Stephen Quinn (NIST) , Blair Heiserman (NIST) Announcement NIST established the National Checklist Program (NCP) to facilitate the generation of security checklists from authoritative sources, centralize the location of checklists, and make checklists broadly accessible. SP 800-70r5 ipd describes the uses, benefits, and management of checklists and checklist control catalogs, as well as the policies, procedures, and general requirements for participation in the NCP. Why Security Configuration Checklists Matter A security configuration checklist is a document or technical content that contains instructions or procedures for securely configuring an IT product to match an operational environment’s risk tolerance, verifying that the product has been configured properly, and/or identifying unauthorized changes to the product. Using these checklists can minimize the attack surface, reduce vulnerabilities, lessen the impacts of successful attacks, and identify changes that might otherwise go undetected. What’s New in Revision 5? This revision introduces significant updates to improve usability, automation, and alignment with modern cybersecurity practices. Key Highlights Traceability and Compliance: Enhanced mapping concepts between checklist settings, NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0 outcomes, SP 800-53 controls, and Common Configuration Enumeration (CCE) identifiers for evidence-ready automation and reporting Expanded Coverage: Guidance that includes cloud platforms, IoT, and AI systems and reflects the latest NIST research and federal requirements Modernized Automation: Explicit support for a wide range of automated checklist formats Control Catalog Approach: Encourages developers to use catalogs of controls for rapid, consistent checklist generation and easier tailoring to different risk postures Operational Environment Tailoring: Detailed recommendations for customizing checklists to fit stand-alone, managed (enterprise), specialized security-limited functionality (SSLF), and legacy environments Checklist Life Cycle: Clear procedures for checklist development, testing, documentation, submission, public review, maintenance, and archival Intended Audience This document is intended for users and developers of security configuration. For checklist users , this document makes recommendations on how they should select checklists from the NIST National Checklist Repository, evaluate and test checklists, and apply them to IT products. For checklist developers , this document sets forth the policies, procedures, and general requirements for participation in the NCP. NOTE: A call for patent claims is included in this draft. For additional information, see the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) Patent Policy – Inclusion of Patents in ITL Publications . Abstract A security configuration checklist is a document or technical content that contains instructions or procedures for securely configuring an IT product to match an operational environment’s risk tolerance, verifying that the product has been configured properly, and/or identifying unauthorized changes to the product. Using these checklists can minimize the attack surface, reduce vulnerabilities, lessen the impact of successful attacks, and identify changes that might otherwise go undetected. NIST established the National Checklist Program (NCP) to facilitate the generation of security checklists from authoritative sources, centralize the location of checklists, and make checklists broadly accessible. This publication explains how to use the NCP to find and retrieve checklists and describes the policies, procedures, and general requirements for participation in the NCP. A security configuration checklist is a document or technical content that contains instructions or procedures for securely configuring an IT product to match an operational environment’s risk tolerance, verifying that the product has been configured properly, and/or identifying unauthorized changes... See full abstract A security configuration checklist is a document or technical content that contains instructions or procedures for securely configuring an IT product to match an operational environment’s risk tolerance, verifying that the product has been configured properly, and/or identifying unauthorized changes to the product. Using these checklists can minimize the attack surface, reduce vulnerabilities, lessen the impact of successful attacks, and identify changes that might otherwise go undetected. NIST established the National Checklist Program (NCP) to facilitate the generation of security checklists from authoritative sources, centralize the location of checklists, and make checklists broadly accessible. This publication explains how to use the NCP to find and retrieve checklists and describes the policies, procedures, and general requirements for participation in the NCP. Hide full abstract Keywords benchmark ; change detection ; checklist ; information security ; National Checklist Program (NCP) ; Security Automation ; secure configuration ; security configuration checklist ; Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP) ; software configuration ; vulnerability Control Families None selected Documentation Publication: https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-70r5.ipd Download URL Supplemental Material: National Checklist Program Document History: 12/09/25: SP 800-70 Rev. 5 (Draft) 05/08/26: SP 800-70 Rev. 5 (Final) Topics Security and Privacy audit & accountability , configuration management , security automation , vulnerability management Technologies software & firmware Laws and Regulations Cyber Security R&D Act , Federal Information Security Modernization Act , OMB Circular A-130 HEADQUARTERS 100 Bureau Drive Gaithersburg, MD 20899 X (link is external) facebook (link is external) linkedin (link is external) instagram (link is external) youtube (link is external) rss govdelivery (link is external) Want updates about CSRC and our publications? 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