Automatic reconciliation by resetting the password carries the risk of disrupting critical business processes. If the account is actively being used for a service or session when the CPM performs the reset, that connection will be broken, potentially causing application downtime or failed transactions. The other options are either not the most significant risk or are not direct consequences of this reconciliation method.

Using the ‘Verify’ action is a standard and secure compromise for accounts that cannot tolerate frequent rotations. It allows the CPM to regularly confirm that the password stored in the vault is still valid on the target system, providing an audit trail of checks and ensuring the credential is still functional, without causing the disruption of an actual change. This balances operational requirements with security oversight.

For Windows domain accounts, the platform’s ‘Address’ field must point to a domain controller (DC), as this is the target system where the CPM will perform the password change operation using protocols like LDAP. If it incorrectly points to the CPM server itself, the connection will technically succeed but the password change will fail because the CPM is trying to run the command against itself, not the DC. The other options typically generate explicit error messages.

The PSM Recording Archiver component is specifically designed for this purpose. It automatically moves session recordings from the primary PSM storage (which is performance-optimized) to a designated, cost-effective archive location (like a network share or object storage) based on configurable rules. This ensures compliance with long-term retention policies without requiring unsustainable growth of the primary PSM server storage.

CyberArk has a dedicated ‘Key’ account type specifically for managing cryptographic keys, certificates, and SSH keys. This type provides the proper secure storage, auditing, and lifecycle management (like renewal) for certificate material. Storing it as a regular password or in notes lacks the specific security context and management features, while a linked file does not integrate with CPM management workflows.

The ‘PSM Terminal Termination Grace Period’ (or a similarly named setting depending on version) is crucial for SSH sessions. When a user disconnects, this grace period gives the PSM time to send proper termination sequences (like SIGTERM, SIGKILL) to the remote shell and its child processes before closing the network connection. If this period is too short, the connection may be severed abruptly, leaving processes running on the target.

The definitive source for all historical security events is the Vault’s own audit logs, accessible via the PrivateArk Client or audit reporting tools. These immutable logs record every permission grant, modification, and revocation. While the current member list shows the present state, only the audit logs can provide historical proof that a user was never added or was explicitly removed outside the 90-day window.

Configuring a PSM connection for the account is the ideal solution. You can grant the developer permission to connect via PSM without ever seeing the password. Furthermore, you can implement just-in-time access by combining this with temporal restrictions (e.g., access only allowed on weekdays from 9-5). This provides secure, logged, and time-bound access without requiring manual approval for each use or exposing the credential.

On Unix-like systems (including AIX), the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) configuration dictates password policy. If `pam_hist.so` or a similar module is configured to enforce password history (e.g., cannot reuse the last 5 passwords), and the CPM’s new password algorithm is cycling back to a previously used one, the change will be rejected by the OS with an ‘incorrect old password’ or similar error. The CPM plugin may need adjustment to adhere to the local history policy.

Automatic reconciliation by resetting the password carries the risk of disrupting critical business processes. If the account is actively being used for a service or session when the CPM performs the reset, that connection will be broken, potentially causing application downtime or failed transactions. The other options are either not the most significant risk or are not direct consequences of this reconciliation method.0