What is Software Composition Analysis (SCA)?

Modern applications rarely rely only on code written in-house. Developers commonly use open-source packages, frameworks, libraries, and third-party components to build faster and avoid solving the same problems repeatedly.

That approach is practical, but it also means application risk can come from code your team did not write. A single dependency may include outdated packages, known vulnerabilities, restrictive licenses, or transitive dependencies that are pulled into the application indirectly.

SCA gives teams visibility into those components so they can make better security and development decisions. Without it, organizations may not know which applications use a vulnerable library, which teams own affected code, or where open-source license obligations apply.

SCA can help reduce risk by identifying:

• Known vulnerabilities in open-source and third-party packages
• Outdated dependencies that may no longer receive security updates
• Transitive dependencies introduced through other packages
• License compliance issues that may affect how software can be used or distributed
• Software supply chain risk tied to external code, build artifacts, and packages

This visibility matters most when a new vulnerability is disclosed. Teams that maintain a reliable component inventory can quickly determine whether they’re exposed, where the affected software appears, and what remediation steps are needed.

How software composition analysis works

SCA works by examining an application’s components and comparing them against external data sources, such as vulnerability databases, package registries, license information, and security advisories. The goal is to identify what’s inside the application and what risks those components may introduce.

1. Scan the application environment

SCA tools can scan different parts of the development and deployment workflow. This may include source code repositories, package manifest files, lockfiles, container images, build artifacts, and running services.

Common files like dependency lockfiles help SCA tools understand which components the application uses and which versions are present.

2. Build a component inventory

After scanning, SCA creates a list of the open-source and third-party components used by the application. This inventory often includes direct dependencies, which developers intentionally add, and transitive dependencies, which are pulled in by those direct dependencies.

This inventory can also support a software bill of materials (SBOM), which documents the components that make up a software product. SBOMs are useful for security reviews, compliance checks, incident response (IR), and third-party risk conversations.

3. Match components to known risk data

Once the components are identified, SCA compares them against known vulnerability and license data. This can surface issues such as:

• A package version associated with a CVE
• A dependency with a restrictive or incompatible open-source license
• A package that is deprecated, abandoned, or no longer maintained
• A vulnerable transitive dependency that developers may not know exists

4. Prioritize and remediate findings

SCA does more than list problems – it helps teams decide what to fix first based on severity, exploitability, reachability, business context, and where the component appears in the application.

Remediation may involve updating a package, replacing a dependency, applying a patch, changing how the component is used, or monitoring the issue until a safe fix is available.

Key components of SCA

Software composition analysis combines several related capabilities. Together, they help security and development teams understand dependency risk across the software development life cycle (SDLC).

Dependency discovery

Dependency discovery identifies the open-source and third-party components in an application. This includes both direct dependencies and transitive dependencies.

A direct dependency is a package a developer intentionally adds, while a transitive dependency is a package brought in by another dependency. Transitive dependencies can be harder to track because they may not be obvious from a quick review of the application’s code.

Vulnerability detection

SCA checks identified components against known vulnerability sources. When a package version is linked to a vulnerability, the finding can help teams understand which applications may be affected and what update path is available.

This is where SCA connects closely with vulnerability management (VM). SCA identifies dependency-specific issues, while VM helps teams prioritize and track remediation across a broader environment.

License compliance checks

Open-source licenses define how software can be used, modified, distributed, and attributed. SCA can flag licenses that may need legal or compliance review, especially when software is redistributed externally or bundled into commercial products.

SBOM generation

An SBOM lists the components that make up an application. SCA can help generate and maintain SBOMs by documenting packages, versions, suppliers, and dependency relationships.

An SBOM is not a fix by itself. Its value comes from helping teams answer practical questions quickly, such as whether a vulnerable component exists in a specific application or release.

Remediation guidance

SCA findings are most useful when they point teams toward action. That may include recommending a safe package version, identifying affected projects, showing dependency paths, or helping teams understand whether a vulnerable function is actually reachable in the application.

Examples and use cases

SCA supports several common security and development workflows. The details vary by organization, but the underlying goal is the same: Give teams a clearer view of open-source and third-party risk.

Reviewing dependencies before release

A development team may run SCA during pull requests or CI/CD builds. If the scan finds a vulnerable package, the team can update it before the application reaches production.

This supports DevSecOps by putting dependency risk checks closer to the point where code is written and changed.

Responding to a newly disclosed vulnerability

When a major vulnerability is announced, security teams need to know whether affected components exist in their applications. SCA helps answer that question by mapping vulnerable packages to repositories, builds, containers, or services.

That inventory can shorten the time between disclosure and response because teams don’t have to search manually across every project.

Managing open-source license risk

Legal, compliance, and engineering teams may use SCA to understand which licenses appear across applications. This is especially useful when software is distributed to customers, embedded in products, or shared with partners.

Reducing software supply chain exposure

SCA also supports defenses against supply chain attacks by improving visibility into external packages. While SCA can’t prevent every supply chain issue, it helps teams identify risky components and respond faster when package-related threats emerge.

How SCA fits into security operations

SCA is part of a broader application security testing program. It focuses specifically on open-source and third-party components, so it works best alongside other testing and security practices. SCA is often compared with SAST and DAST, but each method looks at a different layer of application risk.

• SCA identifies risk in open-source and third-party components.
• SAST reviews custom source code for insecure coding patterns.
• DAST tests a running application from the outside to find exploitable behavior.
• Web application security testing combines multiple methods to assess application risk more completely.

SCA is especially useful early in the development process because dependency issues can often be fixed before release. It also remains useful after deployment, since new vulnerabilities can be discovered in packages that were considered safe when the application was built.

For security operations teams, SCA findings can inform incident response, vulnerability prioritization, asset risk reviews, and software supply chain investigations. For development teams, SCA helps make dependency risk visible without requiring every developer to manually research each package they use.