A new international framework has been released to promote the adoption of the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM). This move is aimed at enhancing transparency and security across software supply chains.
Developed collaboratively by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and 17 global partners, the guidance provides a structured approach for organizations that produce, procure, or operate software to incorporate SBOMs into their cybersecurity strategy.
National cybersecurity agencies from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, and others support the initiative. It represents a unified vision to standardize and operationalize SBOM usage to improve risk visibility, accelerate vulnerability management, and strengthen resilience across both public and private sectors.
What are SBOMs?
SBOMs are a machine-readable inventory of every component utilized in software products, including open-source and proprietary modules. Often described as a “software ingredient list,” the SBOM outlines supply chain relationships, enabling users to track dependencies, identify potential risks, and correlate components with vulnerability databases or security advisories.
Critically, the SBOM should be formatted for automation and integration with other systems, allowing it to be used efficiently throughout the software lifecycle—from development to deployment and ongoing maintenance.
The primary value of the Software Bill of Materials lies in its ability to improve vulnerability management and supply chain risk assessment. With an SBOM, organizations can map software components to known vulnerabilities, continuously monitor for new cyber risks, and deploy mitigations more rapidly.
One high-profile example stressing the importance of SBOM is the Log4Shell vulnerability in Apache Log4j, discovered in December 2021. This critical flaw, exploited globally, was often embedded as a transitive dependency in Java systems. Organizations with SBOM capability were able to identify and isolate the vulnerability swiftly, while others were forced into time-consuming manual searches, increasing their exposure window.
SBOMs also support risk-informed procurement by revealing component origin and compliance attributes. This is especially relevant for organizations subject to specific industry or regulatory supply chain policies, such as those enforced by government entities or sector-specific standards bodies.
The ability to trace component provenance is crucial for compliance with restrictions or reporting requirements based on software origin, developer, or licensing terms.
Enhancing Software Development Through SBOMs
Beyond security, SBOMs bring operational benefits to software development teams. They improve component tracking, help prevent dependency conflicts, and reduce code bloat. Developers gain visibility into components’ support status, including end-of-life indicators and versioning metadata, which facilitates proactive replacement planning.
Integrating SBOMs into the DevOps pipeline streamlines patch management and reduces the time spent triaging post-deployment vulnerabilities. Automation tools can generate SBOMs during build processes or via binary analysis tools post-compilation. Version control and metadata tagging of SBOMs further support traceability across environments.
This proactive approach aligns with Secure by Design principles, a framework jointly promoted by CISA and other international partners. The approach encourages software manufacturers to have full command of their supply chains and embrace transparency as a default.
Software license management is another critical SBOM application. As open-source components proliferate within commercial software, tracking licenses becomes increasingly complex. SBOM data enables organizations to verify usage rights, avoid license violations, and prevent legal exposure.
Violating open-source license terms can result in forced product recall, fines, or contractual penalties. By using SBOM data, legal teams can validate licensing obligations early in the development cycle, reducing business risk.
Who Benefits from SBOM Adoption?
The guidance identifies four key stakeholder groups who stand to benefit from SBOM adoption:
- Producers: Software developers and product security teams gain deeper insight into their upstream dependencies. Application security teams can more effectively address vulnerabilities, and legal teams can monitor licensing obligations.
- Choosers: Procurement teams and IT architects can make informed decisions by evaluating whether a supplier provides an SBOM and assessing the associated supply chain risks.
- Operators: IT operations and security teams use SBOMs to understand exposure to vulnerabilities and plan mitigations when patches are unavailable. Enhanced visibility supports more accurate risk assessments across deployed systems.
- National Cybersecurity Agencies: SBOMs support vulnerability disclosure coordination, procurement integrity, and policy enforcement. Governments can leverage SBOMs for improved cyber resilience and regulatory oversight.
Automation and Integration with Cybersecurity Tooling
The guidance stresses the importance of automation in SBOM generation, management, and consumption. Build tools should generate SBOMs during compilation, while binary analysis tools can be used post-build. Version-controlled SBOMs allow traceability and monitoring of component changes across deployments.
In practice, SBOM data should integrate with existing vulnerability management systems, asset management tools, and supply chain risk platforms. This holistic integration transforms raw SBOM data into actionable intelligence, enhancing the speed and accuracy of incident response.
Additionally, new data formats such as Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange (VEX) can be used alongside SBOMs to prioritize vulnerabilities and focus remediation efforts.
