Automated SBOM for SaaS Platform

Client Overview

A SaaS platform with multiple microservices needed an automated Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) to answer enterprise customer security questionnaires, track dependencies, and prioritize vulnerability remediation across their stack.

Industry: Technology / SaaS
Challenge: Manual dependency tracking; slow response to security questionnaires; unknown vulnerable components
Engagement: 4 weeks (pipeline integration, SBOM generation, vulnerability mapping, remediation support)

Scoping & Requirements

Scope: All production microservices (container images and application dependencies); CI/CD integration for automated SBOM generation; vulnerability correlation (CVE); compliance-oriented reporting. Success criteria: SBOM generated for every build; critical/high CVEs identified and remediated or risk-accepted; template for customer-facing SBOM/compliance responses.

Methodology & Test Cases

We integrated SBOM tooling (CycloneDX/SPDX) into the build pipeline, mapped dependencies to vulnerability feeds, and produced prioritized remediation lists. Activities included: build-time dependency extraction, container image scanning, CVE matching, prioritization by exploitability and asset criticality, and remediation guidance (upgrade paths, patches).

Phase	Deliverable
Pipeline	SBOM generation in CI; artifact storage and versioning
Vulnerability	CVE mapping; severity and exploitability scoring
Remediation	Prioritized list; upgrade/patch guidance; retest after fixes

Findings & Remediation

34 findings (2 critical, 8 high, 16 medium, 8 low) across dependencies. Critical: outdated log4j in a legacy service; high: several node/python packages with known CVEs. We provided upgrade paths and verified fixes; client remediated within 4 weeks with our support.

Results & Impact

            95% risk reduction (weighted severity); critical and high reduced to zero in production.
Customer security questionnaires answered in hours using SBOM and compliance reports.
Ongoing automated SBOM and vulnerability alerts integrated into release process.

        

"We now have a clear software bill of materials and can respond to customer questionnaires in hours."

— VP Product, SaaS Platform

Key Takeaways

Automating SBOM in CI/CD is essential for scale. Prioritizing by business impact (e.g. customer-facing services first) focused remediation. For similar organizations: adopt a standard (CycloneDX/SPDX); integrate early in pipeline; plan for recurring scans and customer-facing deliverables.