On the Way to SBOMs: Investigating Design Issues and Solutions in Practice

IF 6.6 2区计算机科学 Q1 COMPUTER SCIENCE, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology Pub Date : 2024-03-26 DOI:10.1145/3654442

Tingting Bi, Boming Xia, Zhenchang Xing, Qinghua Lu, Liming Zhu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The increase of software supply chain threats has underscored the necessity for robust security mechanisms, among which the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) stands out as a promising solution. SBOMs, by providing a machine-readable inventory of software composition details, play a crucial role in enhancing transparency and traceability within software supply chains. This empirical study delves into the practical challenges and solutions associated with the adoption of SBOMs, through an analysis of 4,786 GitHub discussions across 510 SBOM-related projects. Through repository mining and analysis, this research delineates key topics, challenges, and solutions intrinsic to the effective utilization of SBOMs. Furthermore, we shed light on commonly used tools and frameworks for SBOM generation, exploring their respective strengths and limitations. This study underscores a set of findings, for example, there are four phases of the SBOM life cycle, and each phase has a set of SBOM development activities and issues; in addition, this study emphasizes that SBOM play in ensuring resilient software development practices and the imperative of their widespread adoption and integration to bolster supply chain security. The insights of our study provide vital input for future work and practical advancements in this topic.

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在通往 SBOM 的道路上：调查实践中的设计问题和解决方案

软件供应链威胁的增加凸显了建立强大安全机制的必要性，其中软件物料清单（SBOM）是一个很有前途的解决方案。SBOM 提供了一份机器可读的软件组成细节清单，在提高软件供应链的透明度和可追溯性方面发挥着至关重要的作用。本实证研究通过分析 GitHub 上 510 个 SBOM 相关项目的 4,786 条讨论，深入探讨了与采用 SBOM 相关的实际挑战和解决方案。通过对资源库的挖掘和分析，本研究勾勒出了有效利用 SBOMs 所固有的关键主题、挑战和解决方案。此外，我们还揭示了生成 SBOM 的常用工具和框架，探讨了它们各自的优势和局限性。本研究强调了一系列发现，例如，SBOM 生命周期分为四个阶段，每个阶段都有一系列 SBOM 开发活动和问题；此外，本研究还强调了 SBOM 在确保弹性软件开发实践中的作用，以及广泛采用和整合 SBOM 以加强供应链安全的必要性。我们的研究见解为今后的工作和这一主题的实际进展提供了重要的参考。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology 工程技术-计算机：软件工程

CiteScore

6.30

自引率

4.50%

发文量

164

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Designing and building a large, complex software system is a tremendous challenge. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM) publishes papers on all aspects of that challenge: specification, design, development and maintenance. It covers tools and methodologies, languages, data structures, and algorithms. TOSEM also reports on successful efforts, noting practical lessons that can be scaled and transferred to other projects, and often looks at applications of innovative technologies. The tone is scholarly but readable; the content is worthy of study; the presentation is effective.