configuration parameter
163576·updated Sep 1, 2026A named, adjustable variable — such as a setting, flag, threshold, or rule — in the hardware, software, or firmware of a system component whose value determines some aspect of that component's behavior or security posture. Configuration settings (of which configuration parameters are the constituent elements) are "the parameters that can be changed in the hardware, software, or firmware components of the system that affect the security and privacy posture or functionality of the system" (NIST SP 800-53r5, CM-6). Examples span registry settings, file and directory permission settings, settings for functions, protocols, ports, and remote connections, as well as privacy-affecting settings such as access controls, data processing preferences, and processing and retention permissions. In practice, compliance and audit frameworks treat configuration parameters as the lowest-level, individually assessable units of a system's configuration baseline: NIST SP 800-204A, for instance, organizes its deployment recommendations around configuration parameters for service-mesh components as the concrete mechanism by which security requirements for microservices applications are met.
Source
, filtering rules for routers or firewalls, configuration parameters forthe sentence this term was read in
generalized from a web lookup of the quoted expression at proposal time Verdict: compositional.
A definition generalized from search results is a draft to react to, not provenance. Confirm it against an authority document before this term is verified.
A web lookup ran when this term was proposed
An adjustable setting — a named, changeable value — within hardware, software, or firmware that controls how a system component behaves and, by doing so, affects the component's security posture or operational functionality. NIST SP 800-128 and CNSSI 4009-2015 define the aggregate of such settings as "the set of parameters that can be changed in hardware, software, and/or firmware that affect the security posture and/or functionality of the information system." Individual configuration parameters span a wide range — those that affect security state include registry settings, account and file permission settings, and settings for functions, ports, protocols, and remote connections — and are managed collectively through security-focused configuration management to establish and enforce secure baselines across mainframe computers, servers, workstations, network components such as firewalls and routers, operating systems, middleware, and applications. In compliance and audit practice, specifying, documenting, and controlling configuration parameters is treated as a discrete security requirement: documentation must capture all network device addressing and "all other configuration param
Advisory only. A term this product ships is defined by an authority document, not by a search result.
Proposed during multiword review of this document in the CKI mapping queue.
Attested in
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- plural
- configuration parameters
- possessive
- configuration parameter's
- pluralpossessive
- configuration parameters'
Framework definitions
- §1 · attested_usage_reviewer_confirmed
- No definition is given in NIST SP 800-171r3. The term is attested in use at 1 citation in that document; a definition is pending curation.Increment 2: attested in 800-171r3 without a glossary definition.
- §1 · web_lookup_draft
- A named, adjustable variable — such as a setting, flag, threshold, or rule — in the hardware, software, or firmware of a system component whose value determines some aspect of that component's behavior or security posture. Configuration settings (of which configuration parameters are the constituent elements) are "the parameters that can be changed in the hardware, software, or firmware components of the system that affect the security and privacy posture or functionality of the system" (NIST SP 800-53r5, CM-6). Examples span registry settings, file and directory permission settings, settings for functions, protocols, ports, and remote connections, as well as privacy-affecting settings such as access controls, data processing preferences, and processing and retention permissions. In practice, compliance and audit frameworks treat configuration parameters as the lowest-level, individually assessable units of a system's configuration baseline: NIST SP 800-204A, for instance, organizes its deployment recommendations around configuration parameters for service-mesh components as the concrete mechanism by which security requirements for microservices applications are met.DR-088 backfill from the noun definition column