RA-5(8)_review-historic-audit-logs

RA-5(8) Review Historic Audit Logs

Enhancement of: RA-5

High-Level Description

Family: Risk Assessment (RA) Framework: NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5

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.

What to Check

• Verify RA-5(8) Review Historic Audit Logs is documented in SSP
• Confirm control is operating effectively
• Review evidence of continuous monitoring for RA-5(8)
• Verify enhancement builds upon base control RA-5

How to Test

Step 1: Review Documentation

Examine the System Security Plan (SSP) and related artifacts for RA-5(8) implementation details. Verify the organization has documented how this control is satisfied.

Step 2: Validate Implementation

# For cloud environments, use cloud-audit-mcp tools
# For on-premises, review system configurations directly

# Example: Check if account management policies exist
grep -r "account.management\|access.control" /etc/security/ 2>/dev/null

Step 3: Test Operating Effectiveness

Verify the control is actively functioning, not just documented. Check logs, configurations, and operational evidence.

Tools

Remediation Guide

Control Statement

Review historic audit logs to determine if a vulnerability identified in a [organization-defined] has been previously exploited within an [organization-defined].

Implementation 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.

Risk Assessment

CWE Categories

References

• NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 - RA-5(8)
• NIST SP 800-53A Rev 5 (Assessment Procedures)
• NIST SP 800-53 Rev 5 Full Catalog

Checklist

• Control documented in SSP
• Implementation evidence collected
• Operating effectiveness validated
• Continuous monitoring in place
• Related controls (AU-6, AU-11) reviewed