NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 SA-22 — Unsupported System Components

What this control requires

Replace system components when vendor support is no longer available, or provide alternative support options such as in-house Maintenance or external providers. Mitigate risks through isolation or enhanced controls when replacement isn't feasible. This control supports the Support Continuity and Risk Mitigation Framework capability within the System and Services Acquisition family.

In plain English

Replace system components when vendor support is no longer available, or provide alternative support options such as in-house Maintenance or external providers. 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 System and Services Acquisition, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (Control SA-22) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

How to implement

1. Write a short policy stating intent, scope and named owner.
2. Encode it as a platform guardrail — SCP, Azure Policy initiative, Organisation Policy, or repository policy.
3. Wire a monitoring signal that catches drift (CSPM rule, SIEM rule, scheduled query, Workspace alert) and ticket it.
4. Review on a documented cadence and capture the review in the risk register or compliance tracker.

Operational checklist

• Security. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Maintenance. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• No. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Chain. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• System. Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
• Scope: management, system, mitigate risks, controls, maintenance, replacement, components, services.

Evidence to collect

• Vendor Risk Management. vendor_risk_management evidence

Third-party risk management evidence (assessments, contracts, due diligence) shows supplier oversight. Focus: Unsupported System Components.

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 3.16.2 — Unsupported System Components
• ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.5.19 — Information security in supplier relationships

Related controls in NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5

• Control SA-9(2) — Identification Of Functions, Ports, Protocols, And Services
• Control SA-12(2) — Supplier Reviews
• Control SR-5(1) — Adequate Supply
• Control SA-5(2) — Security-Relevant External System Interfaces
• Control SA-13 — Trustworthiness
• Control MA-2 — Controlled Maintenance

References

• NIST Computer Security Resource Center — NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5
• Catalogue identifier: Control SA-22

Topics: governance riskvendor riskvendor managementsupply chain securitythird party monitoring