# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8(2) — Automated Maintenance

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-2-automated-maintenance
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5) › CM — Configuration Management
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `CM-8(2)`·high·Component: **Configuration Management**

## What this control requires

> Maintain a current, complete, accurate, and available system component inventory using automated mechanisms. Track hardware, software, firmware, and virtual machines to minimize risks. This control supports the Automation capability within the Configuration Management family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control CM-8(2)

### In plain English

Maintain a current, complete, accurate, and available system component inventory using automated mechanisms. In practice, this means you can prove you security management-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

SP 800-53 is the catalogue every U.S. federal authorisation (FedRAMP, FISMA, CMMC) and most regulated industries point at. A missing control surfaces as a Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M) item that an Authorizing Official must approve before the Authority To Operate is granted or renewed.

This control is rated **high**. Auditors expect a named owner, a remediation SLA, and a tooling artefact that evidences continuous operation.

## What an auditor looks for

A 3PAO (FedRAMP) or Independent Assessor (NIST RMF) tests against NIST SP 800-53A assessment procedures. For each control they expect a documented implementation that addresses every assessment objective (Examine, Interview, Test) and an implementation summary in the System Security Plan.

Within **Configuration Management**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control CM-8(2)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Endpoint Protection

**MDM.** Make MDM enrollment a hard gate for device access (Intune compliance + Conditional Access, or Jamf + Okta device trust). Unmanaged devices simply don't get a session token.

**EDR.** Deploy CrowdStrike / SentinelOne / Defender for Endpoint to every server and laptop; alert on any host that stops sending telemetry for >24h.

#### Asset Inventory

**AWS.** AWS Config Aggregator across every account + region gives a real-time inventory; ship the daily snapshot to S3 and surface drift in Security Hub.

**Azure.** Azure Resource Graph plus Defender for Cloud's inventory blade enumerates every subscription; export to Log Analytics for retention and Workbooks for reporting.

**GCP.** Cloud Asset Inventory exports a daily feed of every resource and IAM binding; query via BigQuery and alert on appearance/disappearance.

**Endpoints.** Pipe MDM telemetry (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE) into your CMDB so laptops and phones are inventoried with the same rigour as cloud resources.

### Operational checklist

-   **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Configuration.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Maintenance.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Protection.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Hardware.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** management, system, protection, configuration, hardware, software, firmware, virtual machines.

## Evidence to collect

-   **User Device Scan.** MDM compliance state per user device (Intune / Jamf / Workspace ONE).

Endpoint compliance telemetry (Intune, Jamf) proves managed coverage. Focus: Automated Maintenance.

## Common pitfalls

-   Pilot MDM rollouts that quietly exclude executives or engineers; carving out the highest-risk users is the most common audit failure.
-   Inventories that exclude SaaS, shadow IT and ephemeral cloud resources (Lambda, Cloud Run, K8s pods) miss the assets where most modern incidents start.

## How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

-   [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.4.10** — System Component Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-4-10-system-component-inventory)

## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

-   [**Control CM-8(1)** — Updates During Installation And Removal](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-1-updates-during-installation-and-removal)
-   [**Control CM-8(9)** — Assignment Of Components To Systems](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-9-assignment-of-components-to-systems)
-   [**Control CM-7(9)** — Prohibiting The Use Of Unauthorized Hardware](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-7-9-prohibiting-the-use-of-unauthorized-hardware)
-   [**Control CM-8** — System Component Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-system-component-inventory)
-   [**Control SA-17(2)** — Security-Relevant Components](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-17-2-security-relevant-components)
-   [**Control CM-8(5)** — No Duplicate Accounting Of Components](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-5-no-duplicate-accounting-of-components)

## References

-   [NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5](https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/risk-management/sp800-53-controls)
-   Catalogue identifier: `Control CM-8(2)`

Topics: endpoint securityendpoint protectionasset inventory

## Related compliance guidance

- [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): Start with the full NIST SP 800-53 implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs.
- [NIST SP 800-171 and CMMC: a practical guide to protecting CUI in the cloud](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3): If your obligation is protecting CUI in your own systems for a federal or defence contract, this derived subset — not the full catalogue — is the requirement.
- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most commercial SaaS already hold a SOC 2 Type 2, and FedRAMP 20x Class A is designed for providers that have one.