# NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 RA-5(9) — Penetration Testing And Analyses

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ra-5-9-penetration-testing-and-analyses
- 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) › RA — Risk Assessment
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5**·Control `RA-5(9)`·high·Component: **Risk Assessment**

## What this control requires

> Conduct penetration testing to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in the system to assess security effectiveness. This control supports the Penetration Testing Tool capability within the Risk Assessment family.
> 
> — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, Control RA-5(9)

### In plain English

Conduct penetration testing to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in the system to assess security effectiveness. 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 **Risk Assessment**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control RA-5(9)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Vulnerability Management

**Scanners.** Pair an unauthenticated scanner (Nessus / Qualys / Tenable.io) for external surface with an authenticated agent for OS/library CVEs on every host.

**SLA.** Document remediation SLAs by CVSS / EPSS: critical 7 days, high 30 days, medium 90 days; report monthly trend to leadership.

**Containers.** Scan images in CI (Trivy / Grype / Snyk Container) AND at runtime; block deploys on critical findings without exception.

#### Code Review Testing

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

### Operational checklist

-   **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Review.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **System.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Control.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Testing,.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** management, system, assessment, analyses, review, capability, assess, vulnerability.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Vapt Scan.** `vapt_scan` evidence

Pen-test and vulnerability scan reports substantiate attack-surface coverage. Focus: Penetration Testing And Analyses.

## Common pitfalls

-   Scans that hit only the perimeter; missing authenticated scans of OS, runtime libs and base images so most CVEs are invisible.

## 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 3.11.2** — Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-11-2-vulnerability-monitoring-and-scanning)

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

-   [**Control RA-5(1)** — Update Tool Capability](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ra-5-1-update-tool-capability)
-   [**Control RA-5(3)** — Breadth And Depth Of Coverage](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ra-5-3-breadth-and-depth-of-coverage)
-   [**Control CA-8(1)** — Independent Penetration Testing Agent Or Team](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ca-8-1-independent-penetration-testing-agent-or-team)
-   [**Control RA-5(6)** — Automated Trend Analyses](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ra-5-6-automated-trend-analyses)
-   [**Control RA-5(10)** — Correlate Scanning Information](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/ra-5-10-correlate-scanning-information)
-   [**Control SA-12(11)** — Penetration Testing / Analysis Of Elements, Processes, And Actors](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/sa-12-11-penetration-testing-analysis-of-elements-processes-and-actors)

## 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 RA-5(9)`

Topics: governance riskvulnerability managementcode review testing

## 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.