In the event of a system failure of the firewall function, the firewall must be configured to save diagnostic information, log system messages, and load the most current security policies, rules, and signatures when restarted.

Failure to a secure state can address safety or security in accordance with the mission needs of the organization. Failure to a secure state helps prevent a loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability in the event of a failure of the information system or a component of the system. Preserving state information helps to facilitate the restart of the firewall application and a return to the operational mode with less disruption.

This requirement applies to a failure of the firewall function rather than the device or operating system as a whole, which is addressed in the Network Device Management SRG.

Since it is usually not possible to test this functionality in a production environment, systems should be validated either in a testing environment or prior to installation. This requirement is usually a function of the design of the firewall. Compliance can be verified by acceptance/validation processes or vendor attestation.