# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 MA-4(5) — Approvals And Notifications - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-4-5-approvals-and-notifications - 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) › MA — Maintenance - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `MA-4(5)`·high·Component: **Maintenance** ## What this control requires > Require approval for each nonlocal Maintenance session by designated personnel and notify relevant personnel of planned session dates and times for proper coordination. This control supports the Session Approval capability within the Maintenance family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control MA-4(5) ### In plain English Require approval for each nonlocal Maintenance session by designated personnel and notify relevant personnel of planned session dates and times for proper coordination. In practice, this means you can prove you session 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 **Maintenance**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control MA-4(5)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Incident Response **Runbook.** Maintain a runbook keyed by incident type with named roles (IC, comms, scribe), an out-of-band comms channel, and a 72-hour timeline for external notification. **Tabletop.** Run a quarterly tabletop exercise (ransomware, insider, supply-chain) and feed gaps back into the runbook. ### Operational checklist - **Session.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Maintenance.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Response.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Control.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Change.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, personnel, maintenance, capability, nonlocal maintenance, notifications, response. ## Evidence to collect - **Ticketing Workflow.** `ticketing_workflow` evidence Workflow metrics (ServiceNow, Jira) show approvals and remediation. Focus: Approvals And Notifications. ## Common pitfalls - Runbooks that name a role but no person, or list a paging channel that no longer exists. ## 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. - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC7.4** — Incident Response](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc7-4-incident-response) - [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.6.2** — Incident Monitoring, Reporting, and Response Assistance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-6-2-incident-monitoring-reporting-and-response-assistance) - [**CIS Controls v8 17.8** — Conduct Post-Incident Reviews](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/17-8-conduct-post-incident-reviews) - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.27** — Learning from information security incidents](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-27-learning-from-information-security-incidents) - [**BSI C5:2020 OPS-21** — Involvement of Cloud customers in the event of incidents](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/ops-21-involvement-of-cloud-customers-in-the-event-of-incidents) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control IR-6** — Incident Reporting](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-6-incident-reporting) - [**Control IR-4(15)** — Public Relations And Reputation Repair](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-4-15-public-relations-and-reputation-repair) - [**Control MA-5(4)** — Foreign Nationals](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-5-4-foreign-nationals) - [**Control IR-3(2)** — Coordination With Related Plans](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-3-2-coordination-with-related-plans) - [**Control IR-4** — Incident Handling](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-4-incident-handling) - [**Control IR-7(1)** — Automation Support For Availability Of Information And Support](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ir-7-1-automation-support-for-availability-of-information-and-support) ## 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 MA-4(5)` Topics: incident responsechange 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.