SCAP

SCAP, or Security Content Automation Protocol, is a suite of specifications developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to enable automated vulnerability management, policy compliance evaluation, and security measurement. It provides standardized data formats and exchange protocols that allow different security tools to communicate and automate the collection, assessment, and reporting of security information across diverse IT environments.

The core components of SCAP include XCCDF (Extensible Configuration Checklist Description Format) for expressing security checklists and policies; CPE (Common Platform Enumeration) for naming and identifying software and hardware platforms; CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) for vulnerability identifiers; CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) for assigning severity scores; OVAL (Open Vulnerability and Assessment Language) for defining tests, system states, and results; and the SCAP DataStream (SDS) format for packaging and distributing content. OpenSCAP is a widely used open-source implementation that provides tooling aligned with SCAP standards.

SCAP-enabled content is used by security scanners and configuration assessors to perform automated checks, generate compliance reports, and support vulnerability management workflows. It is applied to verify adherence to security baselines, such as federal government requirements, industry standards, and internal policies. Adoption spans government agencies and numerous commercial vendors, with tools integrating SCAP content into continuous monitoring and risk management programs.

History and scope note that SCAP emerged to improve interoperability and reduce manual effort in security testing. While broadly supported, practical effectiveness depends on up-to-date data, tool quality, and comprehensive coverage of definitions, and it complements rather than replaces human analysis and oversight.