# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 MA-4 — Nonlocal Maintenance - Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-4-nonlocal-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) › MA — Maintenance - Last updated: 2026-06-05 - Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com) **NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `MA-4`·high·Component: **Maintenance** ## What this control requires > Approve and monitor nonlocal Maintenance and diagnostic activities, use strong authentication, maintain records, and terminate sessions upon completion to ensure secure operations. This control supports the Nonlocal Maintenance capability within the Maintenance family. > > — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control MA-4 ### In plain English Approve and monitor nonlocal Maintenance and diagnostic activities, use strong authentication, maintain records, and terminate sessions upon completion to ensure secure operations. In practice, this means you can prove you access 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) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles. ## How to implement #### Logging Monitoring **AWS.** Org-trail CloudTrail to a central log archive account, GuardDuty in every region, and Security Hub for cross-source correlation. **Azure.** Pipe every diagnostic setting into a central Log Analytics workspace; onboard Microsoft Sentinel for SIEM/SOAR. **GCP.** Aggregate audit logs in a dedicated logging project with sink to BigQuery; enable Security Command Center Premium and route findings to Chronicle SIEM. ### Operational checklist - **Access.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Review.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Maintenance.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Authentication.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Monitor.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence. - **Scope:** management, authentication, records, identity, monitor, review, maintenance, capability. ## Evidence to collect - **Identity Scan.** IAM / IdP exports — Entra ID, Okta, IAM Identity Center, Workspace directory — showing accounts, roles, MFA state and last sign-in. Identity analytics (Okta, SailPoint, Access Analyzer) demonstrates least-privilege. Focus: Nonlocal Maintenance. ## Common pitfalls - Per-account logging that nobody stitches together at the org level — incidents that cross accounts go undetected for days. ## 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 3.7.5** — Nonlocal Maintenance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-7-5-nonlocal-maintenance) - [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.33** — Protection of records](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-5-33-protection-of-records) - [**CIS Controls v8 9.2** — Use DNS Filtering Services](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/cis-controls-v8/9-2-use-dns-filtering-services) - [**ISO/IEC 27701:2025 A.3.8** — Identity management](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27701-2025/a-3-8-identity-management) - [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC1.5** — Accountability for Internal Control Responsibilities](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc1-5-accountability-for-internal-control-responsibilities) ## Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 - [**Control MA-4(4)** — Authentication And Separation Of Maintenance Sessions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-4-4-authentication-and-separation-of-maintenance-sessions) - [**Control MA-4(2)** — Document Nonlocal Maintenance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-4-2-document-nonlocal-maintenance) - [**Control AC-25** — Reference Monitor](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ac-25-reference-monitor) - [**Control MA-4(6)** — Cryptographic Protection](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-4-6-cryptographic-protection) - [**Control IA-2(4)** — Local Access To Non-Privileged Accounts](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ia-2-4-local-access-to-non-privileged-accounts) - [**Control MA-3(3)** — Prevent Unauthorized Removal](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ma-3-3-prevent-unauthorized-removal) ## 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` Topics: identity accessidentity managementaccess reviewprivileged accesslogging monitoring ## 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.