Understanding Open‑Source Dependency Security Risks and Available Scanning Tools

Software dependencies are often the largest attack surface

Up to 90% of applications contain third‑party components, many of which are open‑source, and more than half of Fortune‑500 companies use vulnerable open‑source modules. Organizations frequently assume risk resides only in public‑facing web apps, but every application contains numerous small components that can be exploited.

High‑profile bugs such as Heartbleed, Shellshock, and DROWN illustrate the danger, yet most dependency‑related flaws go unnoticed because many firms lack an accurate inventory of the libraries each application uses and receive little notification from upstream projects when zero‑day vulnerabilities appear.

Open‑source vulnerability information is fragmented

While many organizations query the CVE and NIST databases, these sources provide limited coverage of open‑source issues. Relevant data is scattered across numerous platforms—OSVDB, Node Security Project, RubySec, and others—making comprehensive tracking difficult.

Organizations still believe open‑source code is safer

The misconception, often traced to Linus' Law—"Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow"—fails in practice; decades‑old bugs still exist in widely used libraries. Security requires deliberate effort, such as code reviews, dynamic scanning, and penetration testing, regardless of a project's licensing model.

“If there are enough eyes, all bugs are shallow.” – Linus Torvalds

The open‑source ecosystem is more fragile than expected

Recent incidents in the Node.js community show how a single malicious developer can compromise thousands of packages, underscoring the need for proactive monitoring and rapid response.

Attempts to solve the problem

OWASP added “Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities” to its Top 10 in 2013, defining the risk of vulnerable libraries that run with full privileges. Over the years, many tools—both open‑source and commercial—have emerged to address this challenge.

Notable tools and services

Node Security Project (NSP) : Scans Node.js modules and NPM dependencies using public vulnerability databases such as NVD.

RetireJS : JavaScript‑focused scanner with integrations for Grunt, Gulp, Chrome, Firefox, ZAP, and Burp, pulling data from NVD and community sources.

OSSIndex : Supports multiple ecosystems (NPM, NuGet, Maven, Bower, Chocolatey, MSI) and offers a free vulnerability API.

Dependency‑Check : OWASP’s CLI tool that supports Java, .NET, JavaScript, and Ruby, retrieving data directly from NVD.

Bundler‑audit : Ruby‑specific scanner that uses NVD and RubySec data.

Hakiri : Commercial static‑analysis service for Ruby/Rails projects, leveraging NVD and Ruby Advisory Database.

Snyk : Commercial platform focused on npm packages, providing detection, guided upgrades, and open‑source patches, with plans for runtime visibility tools.

Gemnasium : Commercial solution offering automated dependency combination testing, Slack integration, and support for Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and Bower.

SourceClear (SRC) : Commercial tool that combines NVD data with mailing‑list monitoring, offers IDE plugins, and uses “vulnerable method identification” to reduce false positives.

Enterprise‑grade offerings

Products such as BlackDuck, Sonatype Nexus, and Protecode provide end‑to‑end third‑party component management, covering licensing, security, inventory, and policy enforcement.

Original source: http://pub.intelligentx.net/13-tools-checking-security-risk-open-source-dependencies