An SBOM, or Software Bill of Materials, is an inventory of software components, dependencies, versions, suppliers, and related metadata used to improve software supply chain visibility and risk management.

What is the difference between SCA and SBOM management?

SCA analyzes dependencies for vulnerabilities, licenses, and risk. SBOM management focuses on generating, maintaining, tracking, exchanging, and using software bills of materials across the software lifecycle.

What is open source license compliance?

Open source license compliance is the process of identifying licenses used by software components, understanding obligations such as attribution or source disclosure, and managing legal and governance risk.

EPSS, the Exploit Prediction Scoring System, estimates the likelihood that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild and can help prioritize remediation.

KEV refers to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, a catalog of vulnerabilities known to be exploited in the wild and often used to prioritize urgent remediation.

How does SCA support EU CRA and NIS2 readiness?

SCA supports EU CRA and NIS2 readiness by improving visibility into third-party components, vulnerability management, remediation workflows, SBOM evidence, and software supply chain risk governance.

How is Aptori SCA different from traditional dependency scanning?

Traditional dependency scanning often produces long CVE lists. Aptori connects SCA with continuous vulnerability management, threat intelligence, reachability, remediation, compliance, and runtime validation across the broader AppSec program.

Software Composition Analysis

Know what enters your software. Fix what creates real risk.

Aptori Software Composition Analysis continuously discovers open source and third-party dependencies, correlates vulnerabilities with EPSS, KEV, reachability, and application context, and turns software supply chain findings into prioritized remediation.

See Aptori SCA ↗Explore SBOM Management

SCASBOMOpen Source SecurityLicense RiskEPSS + KEVReachability

SOFTWARE SUPPLY CHAIN CONTEXT

Dependenciesdirect + transitive

VulnerabilitiesCVE / OSV / severity

Exploit IntelEPSS / KEV

Reachabilitycode path / usage

SBOM + Licensesinventory / governance

Application Contextasset / owner / exposure

SGEN / SUPPLY CHAINInventory becomes
risk intelligence.

SOFTWARE COMPOSITION ANALYSIS + CONTEXT

Finding a CVE is the beginning—not the decision.

Software Composition Analysis (SCA) identifies the open source and third-party components inside software and maps them to known vulnerabilities, licenses, and dependency risk. But a vulnerability record alone does not tell an AppSec team what should be fixed first.

Aptori enriches component inventory with reachability, EPSS, KEV, exploit intelligence, ownership, application context, and remediation data. That context feeds Continuous Vulnerability Management so teams can focus on the software supply chain risks that deserve action.

Dependency contextDirect and transitive relationships across applications, services, builds, and containers.

Exploit intelligenceCombine vulnerability severity with EPSS and known exploitation evidence.

ReachabilityUnderstand whether vulnerable code is actually used by the application.

GovernanceConnect components to SBOMs, licenses, owners, policies, and remediation workflows.

DEPENDENCY RISK / APPLICATION ACONTEXT-AWARE PRIORITIZATION

ComponentSeverityEPSSKEVReachable

package-a 4.2CRITICAL0.91YESYES

library-b 2.8HIGH0.04NONO

module-c 7.1HIGH0.67YESYES

framework-d 1.9CRITICAL0.02NONO

PriorityFIX NOW↑confirmedused

FROM INVENTORY TO ACTION

Turn software composition into a continuous risk decision.

Aptori connects component discovery, vulnerability intelligence, governance, and remediation instead of leaving teams with another static dependency report.

DiscoverDirect and transitive dependencies across source, builds, artifacts, and containers.

EnrichCVE, OSV, severity, EPSS, KEV, package intelligence, and reachability.

PrioritizeCombine exploit likelihood, known exploitation, application use, and business context.

GovernSBOM inventory, licenses, policy, ownership, exceptions, and compliance evidence.

RemediateUpgrade guidance, developer workflow, ownership, and verification of closure.

RISK-BASED PRIORITIZATION

Not every vulnerable dependency is equally dangerous.

Aptori combines multiple signals to move beyond severity-only prioritization. A critical CVE that is unused and unreachable may require a different response from a lower-severity vulnerability that is actively exploited, reachable, and exposed in a business-critical application.

Explore Continuous Vulnerability Management →

OPEN SOURCE RISK CONTEXT

VulnerabilityCVE / OSV / severity

Exploit likelihoodEPSS / threat intelligence

Known exploitationKEV / active evidence

Reachabilityused code path / exposure

Application contextasset / owner / criticality

Remediationfix / upgrade / workaround

OUTCOMEPrioritized risk developers can act on.

OPEN SOURCE GOVERNANCE

Security, SBOMs, and license governance belong together.

The same component inventory that drives vulnerability management should also support SBOM Management, compliance, procurement, and open source license governance.

SBOM MANAGEMENT

Turn component inventory into living software intelligence.

Generate and maintain software bills of materials across repositories, builds, containers, releases, and suppliers—then correlate them with vulnerabilities, exploit intelligence, and ownership.

Track direct and transitive components
Monitor SBOM drift across releases
Support CycloneDX and SPDX workflows
Use inventory for vulnerability response and evidence

Explore SBOM Management →

LICENSE RISK MANAGEMENT

Govern open source obligations before release.

Identify license families, understand obligations, enforce policy, route exceptions, and preserve evidence for engineering, legal, procurement, and compliance teams.

GPL, LGPL, Apache, MIT, BSD and commercial licenses
Copyleft and compatibility review
Approval and exception workflows
Attribution, disclosure, and audit evidence

Explore License Risk Management →

RUNTIME VALIDATION

Move from “this package has a CVE” to “this risk matters here.”

Aptori’s Application Security Testing platform can carry software composition findings into broader application context and Semantic Runtime Validation. That creates a stronger evidence chain from vulnerable component to reachable behavior, application exposure, remediation, and verified closure.

ComponentVulnerable dependency identified.

ReachabilityDetermine whether affected code is used.

Application contextConnect asset, exposure, identity, and business criticality.

ValidationUse runtime evidence where deeper proof is needed.

Verified closureConfirm remediation removes the relevant risk.

COMPLIANCE + SOFTWARE SUPPLY CHAIN

Maintain evidence as software and regulation change.

SCA, SBOM management, license governance, and remediation evidence support broader Secure-by-Design and software supply chain programs. Aptori connects these capabilities to EU CRA, UK TSA, and broader application security compliance.

Secure-by-DesignComponent visibility and risk management throughout development.EU CRASoftware supply chain visibility and vulnerability management evidence.Application Security ComplianceConnect security evidence with continuous assurance.UK TSASupport regulated telecom software security programs.

CONNECTED APTORI PLATFORM

Continue across the software supply chain and AppSec stack.

Use the same application context and evidence model across component risk, runtime validation, application testing, and remediation.

SBOM Management License Risk Management Continuous Vulnerability Management Semantic Runtime Validation Application Security Testing API Security Testing Autonomous Pen Testing Secure-by-Design

FAQ

Software Composition Analysis questions.

What is Software Composition Analysis (SCA)?

Software Composition Analysis identifies open source and third-party components inside software, detects known vulnerabilities, tracks dependency risk, manages license obligations, and supports remediation and compliance workflows.

What is the difference between SCA and an SBOM?

SCA analyzes component and dependency risk. An SBOM is an inventory of software components, versions, suppliers, and dependency metadata. Aptori connects the two so inventory can drive vulnerability management, governance, and response.

How does Aptori prioritize open source vulnerabilities?

Aptori combines severity with signals such as EPSS, KEV, reachability, application context, remediation availability, and runtime validation to help teams decide what should be fixed first.

What is dependency reachability?

Dependency reachability evaluates whether vulnerable code paths inside a dependency are actually used or reachable by the application.

How does SCA support open source license compliance?

The dependency inventory can be enriched with license metadata, obligations, policy status, approvals, and evidence through License Risk Management to help govern open source use throughout the software lifecycle.

APTori SOFTWARE COMPOSITION ANALYSIS

Know what is in your software. Know what needs action.

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