NIST 800-53 r5 · Controls catalogue · Family IA
IA-5Authenticator Management
Manage system authenticators by: Verifying, as part of the initial authenticator distribution, the identity of the individual, group, role, service, or device receiving the authenticator; Establishing initial authenticator content for any authenticators issued by the organization; Ensuring that authenticators have sufficient strength of mechanism for their intended use; Establishing and implementing administrative procedures for initial authenticator distribution, for lost or compromised or damaged authenticators, and for revoking authenticators; Changing default authenticators prior to first use; Changing or refreshing authenticators {{ insert: param, ia-05_odp.01 }} or when {{ insert: param, ia-05_odp.02 }} occur; Protecting authenticator content from unauthorized disclosure and modification; Requiring individuals to take, and having devices implement, specific controls to protect authenticators; and Changing authenticators for group or role accounts when membership to those accounts changes.
Last updated: 20 August 2026 14:15 UTC
Cumulative inbound coverage
How completely the frameworks we cross-walk collectively cover this — the verdict is the strongest single mapping (overlapping partials are not summed); breadth shows the corroboration behind it.
Collective: partial · 1 mapping(s) from 1 framework(s): OWASP-Web 1 (partial)
Implementations targeting this control (0)
- No implementations targeting this control yet.
ATT&CK techniques this control mitigates (72)
- T1003 OS Credential Dumping Credential Access
- T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
- T1003.002 Security Account Manager Credential Access
- T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access
- T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
- T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
- T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access
- T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
- T1003.008 /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow Credential Access
- T1021 Remote Services Lateral Movement
- T1021.001 Remote Desktop Protocol Lateral Movement
- T1021.004 SSH Lateral Movement
- T1021.007 Cloud Services Lateral Movement
- T1021.008 Direct Cloud VM Connections Lateral Movement
- T1040 Network Sniffing Credential Access, Discovery
- T1072 Software Deployment Tools Execution, Lateral Movement
- T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Initial Access
- T1078.002 Domain Accounts Stealth, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Initial Access
- T1078.004 Cloud Accounts Stealth, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, Initial Access
- T1098.001 Additional Cloud Credentials Persistence, Privilege Escalation
- T1098.002 Additional Email Delegate Permissions Persistence, Privilege Escalation
- T1098.003 Additional Cloud Roles Persistence, Privilege Escalation
- T1098.004 SSH Authorized Keys Persistence, Privilege Escalation
- T1098.006 Additional Container Cluster Roles Persistence, Privilege Escalation
- T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
- T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
- T1110.002 Password Cracking Credential Access
- T1110.003 Password Spraying Credential Access
- T1110.004 Credential Stuffing Credential Access
- T1111 Multi-Factor Authentication Interception Credential Access
- T1114 Email Collection Collection
- T1114.002 Remote Email Collection Collection
- T1133 External Remote Services Persistence, Initial Access
- T1136 Create Account Persistence
- T1136.001 Local Account Persistence
- T1136.002 Domain Account Persistence
- T1136.003 Cloud Account Persistence
- T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
- T1528 Steal Application Access Token Credential Access
- T1530 Data from Cloud Storage Collection
- T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
- T1550.003 Pass the Ticket Lateral Movement
- T1552 Unsecured Credentials Credential Access
- T1552.001 Credentials In Files Credential Access
- T1552.002 Credentials in Registry Credential Access
- T1552.004 Private Keys Credential Access
- T1552.006 Group Policy Preferences Credential Access
- T1555 Credentials from Password Stores Credential Access
- T1555.001 Keychain Credential Access
- T1555.002 Securityd Memory Credential Access
Weaknesses this control addresses (8)AI-assisted
CWEs ranked by how often they appear in real CVEs. The rationale describes how this control reduces exploitability of each weakness class.
| CWE | Name | CVEs | Why this control addresses it |
|---|---|---|---|
CWE-798 | Use of Hard-coded Credentials | 2,000+ | Changing default authenticators prior to first use and protecting content prevents use of hard-coded credentials. |
CWE-522 | Insufficiently Protected Credentials | 1,600+ | Protecting authenticator content from unauthorized disclosure and modification while requiring protective controls addresses insufficiently protected credentials. |
CWE-640 | Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password | 300+ | Establishing procedures for lost or compromised authenticators addresses weak password recovery mechanisms. |
CWE-521 | Weak Password Requirements | 300+ | Ensuring authenticators have sufficient strength of mechanism for intended use addresses weak password requirements. |
CWE-259 | Use of Hard-coded Password | 100+ | Changing default authenticators prior to first use directly prevents use of hard-coded passwords. |
CWE-1392 | Use of Default Credentials | 100+ | Changing default authenticators prior to first use prevents use of default credentials. |
CWE-1391 | Use of Weak Credentials | 55 | Ensuring sufficient strength of mechanism for authenticators prevents use of weak credentials. |
CWE-1393 | Use of Default Password | 43 | Changing default authenticators prior to first use prevents use of default passwords. |
Top CVEs where this control is the strongest mitigation
| CVE | Risk | CVSS | EPSS | Match |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CVE-2026-22769 KEV | 10.0 | 10.0 | 0.1312 | good |
CVE-2024-3272 KEV UPD | 9.9 | 9.8 | 0.9804 | good |
CVE-2024-3408 UPD | 9.9 | 9.8 | 0.7795 | good |
CVE-2023-45249 KEV UPD | 9.9 | 9.8 | 0.5325 | good |
CVE-2025-14611 KEV | 9.9 | 9.8 | 0.5330 | good |
CVE-2024-28987 KEV UPD | 9.5 | 9.1 | 0.9321 | good |
CVE-2025-20188 UPD | 8.8 | 10.0 | 0.2714 | good |
CVE-2024-7332 UPD | 8.6 | 9.8 | 0.2074 | good |
CVE-2024-51978 UPD | 8.5 | 9.8 | 0.1915 | good |
CVE-2020-36911 UPD | 8.2 | 9.8 | 0.1084 | good |
CVE-2025-29268 UPD | 8.1 | 9.8 | 0.0842 | good |
CVE-2025-34509 UPD | 8.0 | 7.5 | 0.5458 | good |
CVE-2026-20128 KEV UPD | 8.0 | 7.5 | 0.0694 | good |
CVE-2024-22853 UPD | 7.9 | 9.8 | 0.0483 | good |
CVE-2024-34219 UPD | 7.8 | 8.6 | 0.2076 | good |
CVE-2024-9643 UPD | 7.8 | 9.8 | 0.0298 | good |
CVE-2025-8730 UPD | 7.8 | 9.8 | 0.0324 | good |
CVE-2023-44411 UPD | 7.7 | 9.8 | 0.0235 | good |
CVE-2024-9486 UPD | 7.7 | 9.8 | 0.0221 | good |
CVE-2025-69971 UPD | 7.7 | 9.8 | 0.0204 | good |
CVE-2026-56265 | 7.7 | 9.8 | 0.0264 | good |
CVE-2024-23619 UPD | 7.6 | 9.8 | 0.0171 | good |
CVE-2024-29021 UPD | 7.6 | 9.0 | 0.2018 | good |
CVE-2024-29855 UPD | 7.6 | 9.0 | 0.2163 | good |
CVE-2024-42850 UPD | 7.6 | 9.8 | 0.0145 | good |