NIST 800-53 REV 5 • SYSTEM AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY
SI-2(6) — Removal of Previous Versions of Software and Firmware
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CMMC Practice Mapping
No direct CMMC mapping
NIST 800-171 Mapping
No direct NIST 800-171 mapping
Related Controls
No related controls listed
Supplemental Guidance
Previous versions of software or firmware components that are not removed from the system after updates have been installed may be exploited by adversaries. Some products may automatically remove previous versions of software and firmware from the system.
Practitioner Notes
Remove previous versions of software and firmware after updates are installed to eliminate the risk of reverting to a vulnerable version.
Example 1: After applying Windows updates, run Disk Cleanup to remove old update files and previous Windows installation files. Use DISM commands to clean the component store and prevent rollback to vulnerable versions.
Example 2: For firmware updates on network devices, after confirming the new firmware is working correctly, delete the old firmware image from the device's storage. This prevents an attacker from rolling back to a known-vulnerable firmware version.