Using open-source components is not just a trend—it’s a necessity. These components accelerate development, reduce costs, and bring innovative solutions to market faster. However, with this convenience comes significant risks. Without proper governance, organizations expose themselves to vulnerabilities, legal liabilities, and compliance issues. Implementing a robust governance framework over the use of open-source components in your software delivery process is critical to mitigating these risks and ensuring that your software remains secure, compliant, and reliable.

The Rising Importance of Open-Source Governance

As Teja Kummarikuntla, Developer Relations Engineer at Harness, explains, “Your software might utilize a lot of open-source components, and when it comes to their usage, you definitely want to avoid using certain libraries or specific versions of those libraries that could be malicious or against your organization’s policies or legal compliance.” The challenge lies in governing the use of these components, especially at scale, where thousands of libraries and dependencies might be in use across various teams and projects.

Harness’s Software Supply Chain Assurance (SSCA) module offers a comprehensive solution to this challenge, enabling organizations to govern the usage of open-source components effectively through tools like SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) Policy Enforcement.

Understanding SBOM and Its Role in Governance

A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is a detailed inventory of all the components—both proprietary and open-source—used to build a software application. It includes essential information like component names, versions, licenses, and suppliers. An SBOM provides visibility into the software’s composition, making it easier to manage potential vulnerabilities and compliance risks.

Kummarikuntla highlights the importance of SBOM in governance: “The SBOM not only brings transparency but also opens up the opportunity to improve security and ensure compliance. It enables organizations to define and implement specific rules governing the use of open-source components, including criteria to allow or deny components.”

Steps to Implementing Governance Over Open-Source Components

Implementing governance over open-source components involves several key steps, which can be effectively managed through the Harness SSCA module. Here’s how organizations can leverage this technology to govern their software delivery process:

1. Generate or Ingest SBOMs

The first step in the process is to generate or ingest SBOMs for your software artifacts. Harness SSCA allows you to generate SBOMs using integrated tools like Syft and cdxgen, or ingest SBOMs created by third-party tools. This flexibility ensures that organizations can maintain a comprehensive and up-to-date inventory of all software components.

Kummarikuntla notes, “The SSCA module can generate SBOMs in popular standard formats, such as SPDX and CycloneDX. This normalization process ensures that your SBOM data is consistent, easy to manage, and ready for policy enforcement and further analysis.”

2. Create and Define OPA Policies

Once the SBOM is generated, the next step is to define policies that govern the use of open-source components. These policies are created using Open Policy Agent (OPA), a policy-as-code approach that allows for granular control over what components are permitted in your software.

“This is where Harness SSCA’s SBOM Policy Enforcement comes into play,” says Kummarikuntla. “You can define the rules with an allow list and deny list using the Rego language, specifying details about the components, versions, licenses, and even suppliers that are allowed or denied.”

3. Attestation Verification

Before enforcing policies on the SBOM, it’s crucial to verify the attestation generated during the SBOM orchestration process. This step ensures the integrity and authenticity of the SBOM, adding an additional layer of security to the process.

“The attestation verification requires a public key and is performed before the policy enforcement takes place on the SBOM,” Kummarikuntla explains. This step is essential for ensuring that the SBOM has not been tampered with, providing confidence that the policies are being enforced on a valid and trusted artifact.

4. Enforce Policies on SBOM

With the policies defined and the attestation verified, the next step is to enforce these policies on the SBOM. The SSCA module evaluates each component in the SBOM against the policy sets, identifying any violations.

Kummarikuntla describes the enforcement process: “Based on the evaluation criteria, if violations are detected, the pipeline can either issue a warning and proceed or generate an error and terminate the process. This flexibility allows organizations to choose how strict they want their enforcement to be, depending on the severity of the violation.”

5. Review Violations and Take Action

Finally, a detailed list of all policy violations is generated. This list provides a clear overview of any issues that need to be addressed, allowing developers and security teams to take corrective action before the software is released.

“Governance is not just about enforcing policies but also about continuous monitoring and improvement,” says Kummarikuntla. “The ability to track and review violations ensures that organizations can refine their policies over time, adapting to new risks and compliance requirements as they arise.”

The Future of Open-Source Governance

As software development evolves, the need for effective governance over open-source components will only grow. With the increasing complexity of software supply chains and the rise of new security threats, organizations must proactively manage the risks associated with open-source usage.

Harness’s SSCA module provides a robust solution for implementing this governance, offering the tools and capabilities to secure the software delivery process from end to end. As Kummarikuntla concludes, “By integrating SBOMs, OPA policies, and continuous enforcement, organizations can achieve a higher level of security, compliance, and reliability in their software development lifecycle.”

In a world where open-source components are ubiquitous, a strong governance framework is not just a best practice but a necessity. Organizations that embrace this approach will be better equipped to navigate the complexities of modern software development, ensuring that their applications are innovative but also secure and compliant.