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RA-5(8) RA · Risk Assessment

Review Historic Audit Logs

LOW MODERATE HIGH
1 Overlay 2 Related Controls
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Requirements NIST SOURCE

Review historic audit logs to determine if a vulnerability identified in a [system] has been previously exploited within an [time period].

Discussion (NIST Supplemental Guidance)

Reviewing historic audit logs to determine if a recently detected vulnerability in a system has been previously exploited by an adversary can provide important information for forensic analyses. Such analyses can help identify, for example, the extent of a previous intrusion, the trade craft employed during the attack, organizational information exfiltrated or modified, mission or business capabilities affected, and the duration of the attack.

Implementation Guidance

Engineering Interpretation

Original engineering commentary written for this explorer — not NIST source text and not authoritative guidance.

No engineering interpretation has been authored for RA-5(8) yet. This section is architected to receive it — see the Requirements and Assessment sections above for the authoritative NIST source content in the meantime.

Assessment

NIST SP 800-53A REV 5.2.0

Assessment Objectives

  1. a system whose historic audit logs are to be reviewed is defined;
  2. a time period for a potential previous exploit of a system is defined;
  3. historic audit logs are reviewed to determine if a vulnerability identified in a <RA-05(08)_ODP[01] system> has been previously exploited within <RA-05(08)_ODP[02] time period>.

Examine

[SELECT FROM: Risk assessment policy; procedures addressing vulnerability scanning; audit logs; records of audit log reviews; vulnerability scanning results; patch and vulnerability management records; system security plan; other relevant documents or records].

Interview

[SELECT FROM: Organizational personnel with vulnerability scanning responsibilities; organizational personnel with vulnerability scan analysis responsibilities; organizational personnel with audit record review responsibilities; system/network administrators; organizational personnel with security responsibilities].

Test

[SELECT FROM: Organizational processes for vulnerability scanning; organizational process for audit record review and response; mechanisms/tools supporting and/or implementing vulnerability scanning; mechanisms supporting and/or implementing audit record review].

Overlays

Showing the OT/ICS overlay for the parent control RA-5 — see the RA-5(8) entries within each baseline below.

OT/ICS Overlay SP 800-82r3

NIST SP 800-82r3 Appendix F, Table 22. Blank baseline means the control/control enhancement is not selected in that initial OT baseline.

LOW

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
  • Included: (2) (11)

MODERATE

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
  • Included: (2) (5) (11)

HIGH

  • Base control: Included (matches standard baseline)
  • Included: (2) (4) (5) (11)

STIGs & CCIs

No STIG checks or CCI mappings are currently loaded for RA-5(8). This section is architected to display, per product: STIG ID, Finding ID, Severity, Title, Description, Check, Fix, CCI, and NIST control mapping — but nothing is populated here until a real DISA STIG/CCI dataset is ingested.

Learn more about STIG/CCI integration →

Evidence

Potential Evidence — Derived

Categorized from the SP 800-53A "Examine"/"Test" artifact list above by keyword — not an authoritative NIST evidence list.

Policy

  • Risk assessment policy
  • system security plan

Logging

  • records of audit log reviews

Testing

  • Organizational processes for vulnerability scanning
  • organizational process for audit record review and response
  • mechanisms/tools supporting and/or implementing vulnerability scanning
  • mechanisms supporting and/or implementing audit record review

Other Records

  • procedures addressing vulnerability scanning
  • audit logs
  • vulnerability scanning results
  • patch and vulnerability management records
  • other relevant documents or records