# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 CM-8 — System Component Inventory - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-system-component-inventory - 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`·high·Component: **Configuration Management** ## What this control requires > Develop and document a system component inventory for hardware, software, and firmware, ensuring accuracy, no duplicates, and sufficient granularity. Include organization-defined information and review/update periodically. This control supports the Inventory capability within the Configuration Management family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control CM-8 ### In plain English Develop and document a system component inventory for hardware, software, and firmware, ensuring accuracy, no duplicates, and sufficient granularity. In practice, this means you can prove you policy 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) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### 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. #### Policy Management **Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA. ### Operational checklist - **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Information.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Configuration.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Review.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **No.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, information, organization, system, configuration, hardware, software, firmware. ## Evidence to collect - **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document. Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: System Component Inventory. ## Common pitfalls - Inventories that exclude SaaS, shadow IT and ephemeral cloud resources (Lambda, Cloud Run, K8s pods) miss the assets where most modern incidents start. - Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced. ## 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) - [**CIS Controls v8 3.2** — Establish and Maintain a Data Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/3-2-establish-and-maintain-a-data-inventory) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control CM-8(6)** — Assessed Configurations And Approved Deviations](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-6-assessed-configurations-and-approved-deviations) - [**Control CM-12** — Information Location](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-12-information-location) - [**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 PM-5** — System Inventory](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pm-5-system-inventory) - [**Control CM-8(8)** — Automated Location Tracking](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-8-8-automated-location-tracking) - [**Control CM-1** — Policy And Procedures](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/cm-1-policy-and-procedures) ## 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` Topics: governance riskasset inventorypatch managementpolicy management ## 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.