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Tools: SBOM & Supply Chain Security

1. Introduction​

A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is a formal, machine-readable inventory of all software components and dependencies in a product. Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools are used to automate the creation and analysis of SBOMs.

For a detailed explanation of the compliance requirements for SBOMs, see our guide on SBOM & VEX Workflows.

2. Build vs. Buy: Key Considerations​

While open-source tools like Syft or the SPDX and CycloneDX CLIs are excellent for generating SBOMs, managing them across an entire product portfolio becomes a significant challenge.

  • Generation vs. Management: Open-source tools are great at generating an SBOM for a single build. Commercial platforms are designed to manage SBOMs at scale, providing a centralized inventory, tracking changes over time, and automating vulnerability correlation.
  • Vulnerability Intelligence: A key function of an SBOM is to quickly identify assets affected by new vulnerabilities. Commercial platforms automate this by continuously monitoring vulnerability databases (like the NVD) and correlating them against the components in your SBOMs. Building this correlation engine yourself is a major undertaking.
  • Workflow Integration: Commercial SCA tools are often designed to integrate directly into CI/CD pipelines and developer workflows, providing immediate feedback and policy enforcement (e.g., failing a build if a critical vulnerability is found).
  • VEX Generation: Creating and managing Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange (VEX) documents is a critical part of the SBOM lifecycle. Commercial platforms often provide tools to streamline the creation and distribution of VEX statements, which are essential for communicating the impact of vulnerabilities to your customers.

3. Tooling Landscape​

These tools help automate the creation, management, and analysis of SBOMs. They enable manufacturers to quickly identify which products are affected by a newly discovered vulnerability in a third-party component, a critical capability for meeting the CRA's strict vulnerability handling timelines.

ToolTypeDescription
SPDX Tool🐙Official command-line tool from the SPDX project for creating and validating SPDX SBOMs.
CycloneDX CLI🐙Official command-line tool from the CycloneDX project for converting between formats and validating SBOMs.
Trivy🐙A popular open-source scanner that can find vulnerabilities in container images and filesystems, and also generate SBOMs.
Syft🐙An open-source CLI tool and library from Anchore for generating an SBOM from container images and filesystems.
Grype🐙An open-source vulnerability scanner for container images and filesystems that can use Syft's SBOM output.
Dependency-Track🐙An open-source component analysis platform that allows you to manage SBOMs and track vulnerabilities across your portfolio.
FOSSA💰A commercial platform for managing open-source license compliance and security vulnerabilities.
Snyk💰A developer security platform that provides vulnerability scanning, license compliance, and SCA.
Anchore💰🐙Enterprise platform and open-source tools (Syft, Grype) for SBOM generation, management, and vulnerability scanning.
Finite State💰A product security platform for connected devices that provides advanced binary analysis and comprehensive SBOM management to mitigate supply chain risk.
Sonatype💰Offers a range of products for software supply chain management, including dependency checking, and vulnerability detection.

Type: 💰=Commercial, 🐙=Open-Source