# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8(7) — Centralized Repository

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-7-centralized-repository
- 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(7)`·high·Component: **Configuration Management**

## What this control requires

> Provide a centralized repository for the system component inventory to consolidate hardware, software, and firmware asset data, enhancing accountability and rapid identification of compromised components. This control supports the Repository capability within the Configuration Management family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control CM-8(7)

### In plain English

Provide a centralized repository for the system component inventory to consolidate hardware, software, and firmware asset data, enhancing accountability and rapid identification of compromised components. 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(7)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Secure Development

**Pipeline.** Require code review, SAST (Semgrep / Snyk Code), SCA (Dependabot / Renovate), secret-scanning and IaC scanning in the merge pipeline.

**Branch protection.** Protected branches enforce reviews, signed commits and passing CI before merge; document the protection rules as the control evidence.

#### Code Review Testing

**Pipeline.** Require at least one human reviewer plus passing CI (lint, type, unit, security scan) before merge — protected branches enforce this.

#### 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.
-   **Data.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Review.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Hardware.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** management, system, application, repository, configuration, hardware, software, firmware.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Code Repo Scan.** Source-control evidence — branch protection, required reviewers, CI status, SCA / SAST reports.

Source control pipelines (GitHub, GitLab) enforce SDLC guardrails. Focus: Centralized Repository.

## Common pitfalls

-   CI security checks set to warn-only; the merge button is faster than the security feedback.
-   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)
-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.28** — Secure coding](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-8-28-secure-coding)
-   [**CIS Controls v8 16.9** — Train Developers in Application Security Concepts and Secure Coding](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/16-9-train-developers-in-application-security-concepts-and-secure-coding)

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

-   [**Control CM-14** — Signed Components](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-14-signed-components)
-   [**Control SA-10(5)** — Mapping Integrity For Version Control](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-10-5-mapping-integrity-for-version-control)
-   [**Control SI-7(15)** — Code Authentication](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/si-7-15-code-authentication)
-   [**Control CM-7(7)** — Code Execution In Protected Environments](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-7-7-code-execution-in-protected-environments)
-   [**Control SA-11(9)** — Interactive Application Security Testing](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-11-9-interactive-application-security-testing)
-   [**Control SA-18(1)** — Multiple Phases Of System Development Life Cycle](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-18-1-multiple-phases-of-system-development-life-cycle)

## 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(7)`

Topics: application securitysecure developmentcode review testingdevsecopsasset 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.
