What Does Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) Mean?
Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) is an XML format used to specify security checklists, configuration documentation and benchmarks, and was intended to support interchange of information, organizational and situational tailoring, document generation, compliance scoring and compliance testing. It is used as a unified standard so that the above documents and configuration settings and files can be interchangeable, allowing for easy customization and replacement.
Techopedia Explains Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF)
The Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as it was tasked to develop a checklist that would set forth option selections and settings that minimize the security risks inherent with the computer hardware and software systems that the federal government is likely to use.