Security requirement
Maintain the currency, completeness, accuracy, and availability of the inventory of system components using [Organization-defined: organization-defined automated mechanisms].
Discussion
The system component inventory includes system-specific information required for component accountability and to provide support to identify, control, monitor, and verify configuration items based on the authoritative source. The information necessary for the accountability of system components includes the system name, hardware and software component owners, hardware inventory specifications, software license information, software version numbers, and—for networked components—the machine names and network addresses. Inventory specifications include the manufacturer, supplier information, component type, date of receipt, cost, model, serial number, and physical location. System component inventory information can include historic versioning of the information that can be used to track changes in the inventory and its ownership over the lifecycle of the system component inventory. Organizations also use automated mechanisms to implement and maintain authoritative (i.e., up-to-date, complete, accurate, and available) baseline configurations for systems that include hardware and software inventory tools, configuration management tools, and network management tools. Tools can be used to track version numbers on operating systems, applications, types of software installed, and current patch levels. This requirement enhances SP 800-171 requirement 03.04.10.
Tailoring decisions required
Resolve these values through the governing organization’s approved tailoring and risk-management process before declaring the requirement implemented.
Protection strategies supported
These classifications are carried from the official SP 800-172 OSCAL record and help explain the enhanced requirement’s defensive purpose.
Implementation perspective
Treat Automated Maintenance of System Component Inventory as an enhanced CUI protection outcome for elevated threat conditions that must be reflected in the system boundary, documented implementation, operational behavior, and assessment evidence. Pay particular attention to approved baselines, secure configuration, change control, inventories, and drift management within the CUI boundary.
- Confirm the federal agency selected this enhanced requirement for the critical program or high-value asset and identify the CUI system components, services, users, and external connections in scope.
- Resolve every organization-defined parameter through an approved governance and tailoring process.
- Map each clause of the requirement to an accountable owner, implementation mechanism, and evidence source.
- Verify that inherited and shared implementations are supported by current provider evidence and responsibility boundaries.
- Collect evidence during normal operation and review changes, exceptions, and deficiencies on a risk-based cadence.
Questions to ask
- Which critical-program or high-value-asset CUI, data flows, users, and services are protected by this enhanced requirement?
- Which portions are implemented locally, inherited, shared, or not applicable, and what evidence supports that determination?
- Do the system security plan, deployed configuration, operating process, and assessment evidence tell the same story?
- What change, incident, or threshold should trigger reassessment?
Evidence and validation
- approved baseline configurations
- change tickets and approvals
- configuration scan and drift reports
- software and hardware inventories
Common failure patterns
- baselines documented but not enforced
- emergency changes never reconciled
- cloud or ephemeral assets missing from inventory
- security impact analysis performed after deployment
Assessment objectives and methods
Assessment objectives (4)
[Organization-defined: automated mechanisms] are used to maintain the currency of the system component inventory.
[Organization-defined: automated mechanisms] are used to maintain the completeness of the system component inventory.
[Organization-defined: automated mechanisms] are used to maintain the accuracy of the system component inventory.
[Organization-defined: automated mechanisms] are used to maintain the availability of the system component inventory.
Examine
- Configuration management policy
- procedures addressing system component inventory
- configuration management plan
- system security plan
- system design documentation
- system component inventory
- change control records
- system maintenance records
- system audit records
- other relevant documents or records
Interview
- Personnel with component inventory management responsibilities
- personnel with information security responsibilities
- system developers
- system/network administrators
Test
- Processes for maintaining the system component inventory
- automated mechanisms supporting and/or implementing the system component inventory
Source NIST SP 800-53 controls
These controls are referenced by the official SP 800-172 Rev. 3 OSCAL record. Open the corresponding control pages for complete control text, enhancements, D3FEND mappings, and related learning.
Authoritative sources
- NIST SP 800-172 Revision 3 official publication ↗
- NIST SP 800-172A Revision 3 official publication ↗
- NIST OSCAL Content release used for this import ↗
Bare Metal Cyber is an independent educational publisher and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NIST. The official publications, the responsible federal agency, and the governing contract or agreement determine applicability, tailoring, assessment depth, and required implementation.