Cyber Posture

NIST 800-53 r5 · Controls catalogue · Family PL

PL-7Concept of Operations

Develop a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for the system describing how the organization intends to operate the system from the perspective of information security and privacy; and Review and update the CONOPS {{ insert: param, pl-07_odp }}.

Last updated: 09 May 2026 03:25 UTC

Implementations targeting this control (0)

ATT&CK techniques this control mitigates (0)

Weaknesses this control addresses (7)AI

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-284Improper Access Control4,832CONOPS describes the organization's intended security and privacy operating model, including access-control concepts, making systemic improper access control less likely to persist undetected.
CWE-269Improper Privilege Management2,907The documented concept of operations forces organizations to specify how privileges will be assigned, used, and reviewed, directly limiting improper privilege management in day-to-day operations.
CWE-285Improper Authorization1,230By requiring a clear statement of how authorization decisions are made and enforced during operations, the control reduces gaps that allow improper authorization to be exploited.
CWE-693Protection Mechanism Failure476The control requires organizations to describe how protection mechanisms will function in operation, thereby reducing the chance that those mechanisms fail due to undefined or inconsistent operational assumptions.
CWE-250Execution with Unnecessary Privileges305CONOPS explicitly defines intended operational roles, procedures, and privilege usage, reducing the likelihood of unnecessary privileges being assigned or retained during system operation.
CWE-653Improper Isolation or Compartmentalization52The CONOPS must articulate isolation and compartmentalization expectations for security and privacy, making architectural failures in separation of duties or domains harder to overlook.
CWE-657Violation of Secure Design Principles19Developing and maintaining a security-focused CONOPS constitutes explicit adherence to secure design and operational principles, directly countering violations of those principles.

Top CVEs where this control is the strongest mitigation

CVE Risk CVSS EPSS Match
No CVEs annotated to this control yet — the per-CVE backfill is in progress.

Other controls in family PL

PL-1 PL-10 PL-11 PL-2 PL-3 PL-4 PL-5 PL-6 PL-8 PL-9