NIST is announcing “the final release of four NIST Interagency Reports (NISTIRs) that define the specifications for Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) version 2.3. CPE, which is one of the fundamental components of the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP), provides a standardized way to identify and describe software and hardware devices present in an enterprise’s computing asset inventory. Each of the four CPE 2.3 modules is defined in its own NISTIR:
- NISTIR 7695, Common Platform Enumeration: Naming Specification Version 2.3 defines the CPE Naming specification, including the logical structure of well-formed CPE names and the procedures for binding and unbinding these names with machine-readable encodings.
- NISTIR 7696, Common Platform Enumeration: Name Matching Specification Version 2.3 provides the CPE Name Matching specification, which defines procedures for comparing CPE names to determine whether they refer to some or all of the same products or platforms.
- NISTIR 7697, Common Platform Enumeration: Dictionary Specification Version 2.3defines the CPE Dictionary specification, including the semantics of its data model and the rules associated with CPE dictionary creation and management.
- NISTIR 7698, Common Platform Enumeration: Applicability Language Specification Version 2.3 provides the CPE Applicability Language specification, which allows construction of complex groupings of CPE names to describe IT platforms.”
The CPE specifications and other resources can be found at:
http://scap.nist.gov/specifications/cpe/
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