README.md

---
license: cc0-1.0
language: [en]
task_categories: [text-retrieval, question-answering]
tags: [cybersecurity, nist, rmf, compliance, fedramp, ato, ai-governance, oscal]
pretty_name: RMF/ATO Core Corpus
size_categories: [1K<n<10K]
---

# RMF/ATO Core Corpus

## What this is

A curated corpus of **current-revision** NIST Risk Management Framework and authorization
publications, plus a second tier of AI governance documents. Every row is source text — one
control, one assessment objective, one RMF task, one AI RMF subcategory, one SSDF practice, one
document section — carrying the identifiers a practitioner actually cites. It is built for
retrieval and fine-tuning around authorization workflows: control selection, SSP and assessment
work, categorization, continuous monitoring, and the emerging AI governance overlay.

**5,510 rows, 1.9 MB, single `train` split.** No embeddings, no synthetic Q&A, no system prompts.

## Why another NIST dataset

Existing NIST corpora are typically indiscriminate scrapes, and they share four failure modes.
Each is prevented here by construction rather than by cleanup:

| Failure mode | How it is prevented |
|---|---|
| **Superseded-document contamination** — 1989 guidance sitting beside current guidance | A manifest is the sole authority on scope. Every row traces to one manifest entry. Landing pages are checked for supersession at build time; SP 800-18 Rev 1 was found withdrawn during this build and replaced with Rev 2. |
| **Fabricated control IDs** — "control HA-25", "control WE-12", produced when a chunker turns any two capital letters near a number into an identifier | A row may carry a `control_id` **only** if it came from OSCAL structured data, and the ID must match one of the 20 real SP 800-53 Rev 5 families. PDF-derived rows never carry a control ID, even where the prose names one. Both rules are executable checks, not conventions. |
| **Baked-in prompts** — "You are a cybersecurity expert…" prefixed to every row | Row text is source text. Validation rejects any row containing prompt scaffolding or unrendered template markers. |
| **Embedding lock-in** — precomputed vectors tying users to one model | Text only. Bring your own embedding model. |

The dataset is deliberately small. It is meant to be *right*, not exhaustive.

## What's included

| doc_id | document | revision | date | tier | format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| `SP-800-37r2` | Risk Management Framework for Information Systems and Organizations | Rev 2 | 2018-12 | 1 | PDF |
| `SP-800-53r5` | Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2020-09 | 1 | OSCAL |
| `SP-800-53Ar5` | Assessing Security and Privacy Controls | Rev 5 | 2022-01 | 1 | embedded in OSCAL |
| `SP-800-53B-LOW/MODERATE/HIGH/PRIVACY` | Control Baselines | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2020-10 | 1 | OSCAL |
| `FIPS-199` | Standards for Security Categorization | Initial (in force) | 2004-02 | 1 | PDF |
| `FIPS-200` | Minimum Security Requirements | Initial (in force) | 2006-03 | 1 | PDF |
| `SP-800-60v1r1` / `v2r1` | Mapping Information Types to Security Categories, Vols 1–2 | Rev 1 | 2008-08 | 1 | PDF |
| `SP-800-18r2` | Developing Security, Privacy, and C-SCRM Plans for Systems | Rev 2 | 2026-06 | 1 | PDF |
| `SP-800-30r1` | Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments | Rev 1 | 2012-09 | 1 | PDF |
| `SP-800-39` | Managing Information Security Risk | Initial (in force) | 2011-03 | 1 | PDF |
| `SP-800-137` | Information Security Continuous Monitoring | Initial (in force) | 2011-09 | 1 | PDF |
| `AI-100-1` | AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0) | 1.0 | 2023-01 | 2 | PDF |
| `AI-RMF-PLAYBOOK` | NIST AI RMF Playbook | rolling | 2026-08 | 2 | JSON |
| `SP-800-218` | Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) | 1.1 | 2022-02 | 2 | PDF |
| `SP-800-218A` | SSDF Community Profile for Generative AI | Initial | 2024-07 | 2 | PDF |

**SP 800-53A content is extracted from the SP 800-53 Rev 5 OSCAL catalog's embedded assessment
parts**, not from a separate 53A file — NIST publishes no standalone 53A OSCAL artifact. Those
rows are attributed to `SP-800-53Ar5` and cite the catalog's hash.

### Excluded

Superseded or withdrawn revisions (including 182 withdrawn SP 800-53 controls, each logged by
name); NIST annual reports and workshop proceedings; pre-2010 legacy publications except FIPS
199/200, which remain in force; and draft publications. Also excluded from v1: CNSSI 1253 and
DoD Instruction 8510.01, whose publishers block automated retrieval; and **SP 800-60 Volume 2
Appendix E**, which reproduces OMB memoranda and legislative provisions as wide reference tables —
source material for the impact determinations rather than guidance, and it extracts as citation
soup.

## Schema

One row = one chunk.

| field | type | notes |
|---|---|---|
| `id` | string | Deterministic and human-readable: `{doc_id}/{chunk_type}/{slug}`, e.g. `SP-800-53r5/control/ac-2`. Oversized rows split into ` (part n)`. Stable across versions, so diffs are meaningful. |
| `text` | string | Source text. Normalized whitespace, paragraph breaks preserved. 80–8,000 chars. |
| `doc_id` | string | Matches a manifest entry. |
| `doc_title` | string | From the manifest. |
| `revision` | string | From the manifest; names the exact OSCAL content release where applicable. |
| `pub_date` | string | `YYYY-MM` or `YYYY`. |
| `tier` | int32 | 1 = RMF/ATO core, 2 = AI governance. |
| `chunk_type` | string | `control`, `control_enhancement`, `control_discussion`, `assessment_objective`, `assessment_method`, `baseline`, `section`, `task`, `ai_rmf_subcategory`, `ssdf_practice`, `definition`, `table`. |
| `control_id` | string or null | Lowercase OSCAL form (`ac-2`, `ac-2.3`). **Null for every PDF-derived row.** |
| `section_path` | string or null | Where it sits: `AC > AC-2 > Discussion`, `CHAPTER THREE > TASK P-1`, `SSDF Practices > PO > PO.1 > PO.1.1`. |
| `source_url` | string | The retrieved artifact's URL. |
| `sha256_source` | string | Hash of the exact artifact the row came from. |

### Rows by chunk type

| chunk_type | rows | | chunk_type | rows |
|---|---:|---|---|---:|
| `assessment_method` | 1,014 | | `ai_rmf_subcategory` | 154 |
| `assessment_objective` | 1,014 | | `ssdf_practice` | 94 |
| `control_discussion` | 999 | | `task` | 47 |
| `control_enhancement` | 714 | | `baseline` | 4 |
| `control` | 300 | | `table` | 1 |
| `section` | 872 | | | |
| `definition` | 297 | | | |

The 297 `definition` rows come from five glossaries: SP 800-37r2 (178), SP 800-137
(101), FIPS 199 (13), SP 800-18r2 (3) and FIPS 200 (2). The two large ones mark their
entries typographically rather than with punctuation — SP 800-37 sets terms in bold,
SP 800-137 marks each entry with a smaller bracketed source line — so both are read
from the font, not from a `TERM:` pattern.

### Example rows

```json
{
  "id": "SP-800-53r5/control_enhancement/ac-2.3",
  "text": "AC-2(3) Account Management | Disable Accounts\nFamily: Access Control (AC) > AC-2 Account Management\n\nDisable accounts within [Assignment: organization-defined time period] when the accounts:\n(a) Have expired;\n(b) Are no longer associated with a user or individual;\n(c) Are in violation of organizational policy; or\n(d) Have been inactive for [Assignment: organization-defined time period].",
  "doc_id": "SP-800-53r5",
  "revision": "Rev 5 (OSCAL content version 5.2.0)",
  "tier": 1,
  "chunk_type": "control_enhancement",
  "control_id": "ac-2.3",
  "section_path": "AC > AC-2 > AC-2(3)"
}
```

```json
{
  "id": "AI-100-1/ai_rmf_subcategory/govern-1.1",
  "text": "GOVERN 1.1: Legal and regulatory requirements involving AI are understood, managed, and documented.",
  "doc_id": "AI-100-1",
  "revision": "1.0",
  "tier": 2,
  "chunk_type": "ai_rmf_subcategory",
  "control_id": null,
  "section_path": "AI RMF Core > Govern > GOVERN 1.1"
}
```

Note the ODP rendering: `{{ insert: param, ac-02_odp.01 }}` in the OSCAL source becomes
`[Assignment: organization-defined …]` / `[Selection; one or more: …]`, the convention SP 800-53
itself prints. No template marker survives into any row.

## How it was built

```
01 verify → 02 fetch → 03 parse OSCAL → 04 parse PDF → 05 chunk → 06 validate → 07 export
```

Each stage is an independently runnable, idempotent script. Source, tests, and the **full
rejection log** live in the GitHub repository: <https://github.com/ezesecops/rmf-ato-core>

**1,131 rows were rejected** across the pipeline, every one recorded with a rule and a reason in
`rejections.jsonl`. Rejected content is logged, never silently dropped.

| rule | rows | what it is |
|---|---:|---|
| `section_too_short` | 449 | layout fragments; their text survives, merged into neighbouring sections |
| `withdrawn_control` | 182 | SP 800-53 controls marked withdrawn in OSCAL |
| `excluded_appendix` | 161 | SP 800-60 Vol 2 Appendix E — OMB memoranda and legal-provision tables |
| `midsentence_fragment` | 97 | sections beginning mid-sentence (see Limitations) |
| `duplicate_task_stub` | 96 | RMF task identifiers repeated in summary tables and contents |
| `trailing_furniture` | 36 | stub sections with no sibling to merge into |
| `bibliography_entry` | 29 | reference-list entries: citation apparatus, no guidance |
| `duplicate_information_type_stub` | 26 | SP 800-60 information-type identifiers repeated in contents |
| `length_bounds` | 19 | text outside the length bounds for its chunk type |
| `empty_discussion` | 15 | SP 800-53 discussions whose whole content is "None." |
| `front_matter` | 8 | title pages, forewords, signature blocks, contents |
| `block_too_short` / `definition_too_short` | 10 | identifier blocks and glossary entries that extracted as fragments |
| `near_dupe` | 3 | text identical to an earlier row; the later row loses |

Three review passes shaped this log after the pipeline first ran end to end. The first added the
supply-chain rules that reject reference entries, running-header remnants and mid-sentence
fragments. The second showed those rules were discarding rows that had real guidance underneath a
damaged first line, so the pipeline now *repairs* what it can — a running-header remnant or a
leading citation tag over substantive text is stripped and the row is published, and rows are only
rejected when nothing substantive remains. The third recovered content the rules had been hiding:
SP 800-137's glossary became 101 `definition` rows, and decorative drop caps stopped being read as
headings. `running_header_fragment` rejected 101 rows before that repair step existed and rejects
none now.

## Provenance & integrity

Every artifact was retrieved once, hashed, and recorded. `provenance.json` ships with the dataset.

| doc_id | revision | retrieved | bytes | sha256 (first 16) |
|---|---|---|---:|---|
| `AI-100-1` | 1.0 | 2026-08-08 | 1,946,127 | `7576edb531d98488…` |
| `AI-RMF-PLAYBOOK` | rolling | 2026-08-08 | 413,720 | `aecbee3d3c882081…` |
| `FIPS-199` | Initial (in force) | 2026-08-08 | 80,356 | `73d19f05f71e30f3…` |
| `FIPS-200` | Initial (in force) | 2026-08-08 | 218,892 | `107a9b9cdc8eccf3…` |
| `SP-800-137` | Initial (in force) | 2026-08-08 | 986,916 | `2d1c0bf459f5e1bf…` |
| `SP-800-18r2` | Rev 2 | 2026-08-08 | 1,313,448 | `640f9124469f285f…` |
| `SP-800-218` | 1.1 | 2026-08-08 | 739,891 | `617746e553a9e2da…` |
| `SP-800-218A` | Initial | 2026-08-08 | 650,661 | `e088c8bc75716824…` |
| `SP-800-30r1` | Rev 1 | 2026-08-08 | 826,897 | `f214087f0bdb3593…` |
| `SP-800-37r2` | Rev 2 | 2026-08-08 | 2,270,327 | `4f75e1136bb905a6…` |
| `SP-800-39` | Initial (in force) | 2026-08-08 | 1,228,127 | `cf680760d171fc59…` |
| `SP-800-53B-HIGH` | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2026-08-08 | 12,492 | `60576970caef91b2…` |
| `SP-800-53B-LOW` | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2026-08-08 | 7,234 | `8fd206017c8d718b…` |
| `SP-800-53B-MODERATE` | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2026-08-08 | 10,498 | `9030dbf1f1316994…` |
| `SP-800-53B-PRIVACY` | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2026-08-08 | 6,064 | `7e650c4397ad633e…` |
| `SP-800-53r5` | Rev 5 (OSCAL 5.2.0) | 2026-08-08 | 10,442,037 | `01f37cf90ea99d92…` |
| `SP-800-60v1r1` | Vol 1 Rev 1 | 2026-08-08 | 338,329 | `6f13f57f11697efc…` |
| `SP-800-60v2r1` | Vol 2 Rev 1 | 2026-08-08 | 1,193,436 | `0b4c5128b39a90f1…` |

`SP-800-53Ar5` rows cite the `SP-800-53r5` catalog hash, because that is the artifact they were
extracted from.

## Limitations

- **PDF section coverage is partial and best-effort.** Layout is not structure. Per-unit rows
  (controls, tasks, subcategories, practices, definitions) are high-confidence; `section` rows are
  the residue of heading detection. Content loss to furniture stripping is under 1% for most
  documents and about 8% for SP 800-218, whose bold bullet lists and two-line headings fragment
  worst.
- **Assessment objectives and methods are one row per control**, not per leaf clause. A single
  determination statement ("account managers are assigned;") is not retrievable on its own. This
  keeps the corpus at ~5.5k coherent rows rather than ~13k fragments.
- **About 97 mid-sentence fragments were rejected rather than published.** PDF page breaks,
  footnote interleaving and multi-column layout sometimes hand the extractor a passage that starts
  partway through a sentence (`transparent the risk perceptions that organizations routinely
  use…`). Those rows are dropped under `midsentence_fragment` and logged with the text that was
  discarded. Two consequences worth knowing: a small amount of real guidance — mostly in SP
  800-30r1 and SP 800-37r2 — is missing from the corpus, and section coverage of those documents is
  therefore not continuous. Repairing the fragments would mean stitching text across page
  boundaries, which risks joining passages that were never adjacent; dropping them was the more
  conservative choice.
- **CNSSI 1253 and DoDI 8510.01 are absent** from v1 — cnss.gov and esd.whs.mil block scripted
  retrieval, and their control tables were out of scope for v1 regardless.
- **SP 800-60 Volume 2 Appendix E is absent** (see exclusions). The information-type entries it
  supports — 113 `D.x` rows — are present.
- **The AI RMF Playbook is a rolling web resource.** Its rows reflect the version retrieved on the
  date above and will drift as NIST updates it.
- **Nineteen rows fell outside the length bounds** and were rejected: one AI RMF subcategory
  (`MAP 1.5`, which the Playbook carries in full), two FIPS 199 glossary terms, and sixteen
  one-line glossary cross-references of the form "See authorization boundary."
- **This corpus reflects publications as of the build date.** NIST revises documents, sometimes
  without notice — SP 800-18 Rev 1 was withdrawn six weeks before this build. Re-run the pipeline
  rather than assuming currency.
- **Not legal or compliance advice.** These are reference texts; authorization decisions belong to
  the authorizing official.

## License

Source documents are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain under
17 U.S.C. § 105. No copyright is claimed in them. The compilation, curation, manifest, and derived
structure are released under **CC0 1.0 Universal**.

## Maintainer & citation

Maintained by **[@ezesecops](https://github.com/ezesecops)** — <https://ezesecops.com>

```bibtex
@misc{rmf_ato_core_2026,
  author       = {Anene, Ebubeze},
  title        = {RMF/ATO Core Corpus: a curated, provenance-tracked NIST RMF and AI governance dataset},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Hugging Face},
  howpublished = {\url{https://huggingface.co/datasets/ezesecops/rmf-ato-core}},
  note         = {Built 2026-08-08 from current-revision NIST publications}
}
```

**Found a bad row?** That is the most useful thing you can report. Open an issue at
<https://github.com/ezesecops/rmf-ato-core/issues> with the row `id` — every row traces back
through `sha256_source` to the exact artifact it came from, so problems are reproducible.