A Proactive Framework for Dependency Security

Case Study: Recent Supply Chain Attacks

September 24, 2025

Brian Hoang

Initial Version. Not for Public Distribution.

Recent Incidents: A Wake-Up Call

Axios DoS Vulnerability (CVE-2025-58754)

Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Impact: Unbounded memory allocation from `data:` URIs leads to Denial-of-Service (DoS).
Risk: High potential for server crash or hang.

Reference: NVD

NPM Supply Chain Attack ("Shai-Hulud")

Scope: Nearly 500 npm packages affected.
Vector: Compromised maintainer accounts, malicious code injection.
Trend: Supply chain attacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated.

Reference: Socket.dev Blog

Why This Demands Our Immediate Attention

High Impact on Operations

Direct risk of server crashes and Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, leading to application downtime and potential revenue loss.

Cascading Business Risks

A supply chain attack triggers a cascade of severe business consequences beyond just technical glitches:

Financial Loss: From remediation costs, downtime, and regulatory fines.
Customer Data Exposure: Leading to loss of trust and legal action.
Data Loss or Corruption: Critical business information can be destroyed.
Persistent Backdoors: Creates hidden entry points for future, more damaging attacks.

Lack of Proactive Detection

Our current process is entirely reactive. We have no automated mechanisms to detect these threats before they escalate.

Root Causes: Objective Reality vs. Internal Gaps

Objective Reality (External)

We operate in a world of open-source. Dependency on public package managers like npm, PyPI, Maven, and NuGet is a business necessity.

We cannot control their security.
The risk of compromised packages is constant.
This is an accepted risk we must actively manage.

Subjective Reality (Internal)

Our internal processes have not kept pace with the external threat landscape. This is where we have control and can improve.

Lack of automated scanning.
Inconsistent secret management.
Implicit trust in our pipelines.

Our Internal Gaps: Key Challenges Identified

Lack of Automation

No automated, recurring scans for vulnerabilities in our codebase or dependencies.

Weak Secret Management

No centralized policy or enforcement for regular rotation of secrets and tokens.

Implicit Trust

Dependencies and CI/CD pipeline steps are often treated as trusted entities without sufficient verification.

Limited Visibility

Poor insight into the security posture of 3rd-party packages we integrate into our products.

Choosing the Right Approach to Tooling

Legacy Projects (No CI/CD)

For older codebases without modern pipelines, we must establish a baseline of security visibility.

Method: Use standalone scripts and command-line tools.
Cadence: Schedule recurring manual scans (e.g., monthly).
Goal: Identify and prioritize critical vulnerabilities for manual patching.

Modern Projects (With CI/CD)

For active projects with CI/CD, we can achieve continuous security by embedding it into the workflow.

Method: Integrate scanning tools directly into the CI pipeline.
Cadence: Scan on every commit or pull request.
Goal: Block vulnerable builds automatically and provide immediate feedback to developers.

The Solution: Proactive Dependency Security Framework (PDSF)

A standardized, cross-platform approach to actively manage and mitigate risks from third-party dependencies throughout the software lifecycle.

Automation First

Integrate security into CI/CD.

Policy-Driven

Enforce rules, don't rely on habit.

Continuous Improvement

Learn and adapt from every incident.

The PDSF Lifecycle: A Continuous Approach

1. Detect

Automated vulnerability scanning with tools like Snyk, Trivy, and `osv-scanner` integrated into CI/CD.

2. Protect

Enforce dependency pinning, use lockfiles, and pull from trusted internal registries to prevent injection.

3. Respond

Execute pre-defined incident playbooks, automatically revoke secrets, and utilize hotfix pipelines.

4. Recover

Conduct post-incident reviews, propagate patches, and share knowledge across teams to prevent recurrence.

PDSF in Action: Proactive Security Measures

Automation & Monitoring

Regular automated scans (weekly/monthly).
Continuous dependency health monitoring.
Secret scanning in repositories.

Security Policies

Rotate all tokens quarterly (mandatory).
Enforce least-privilege access in CI/CD.
Mandate Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

Threat Intelligence

Subscribe to CVE feeds.
Monitor GitHub security advisories.
Utilize open-source databases like `osv.dev`.

PDSF in Action: A Detailed Incident Playbook

Detect & Escalate

CI/CD scan fails.
Threat intel alert received.
Manual report from dev.
Action: Create P1 ticket, notify Incident Commander on-call.

Contain & Remediate

Disable publish tokens.
Block malicious package.
Isolate affected systems.
Action: Deploy emergency patch or rollback.

Investigate & Audit

Analyze CI/CD & server logs.
Determine blast radius.
Identify root cause.
Action: Document findings for post-mortem.

Communicate

Update internal stakeholders.
Prepare external comms if client data is impacted.
Action: Provide regular, factual updates.

Recover & Improve

Conduct blameless post-mortem.
Update security policies.
Add new detection rules.
Action: Share lessons learned across all teams.

Applying PDSF Across All Ecosystems

The framework provides specific tooling and policy checks for each package manager.

JS (npm / yarn)

Python (pip / PyPI)

Java (Maven/Gradle)

.NET (NuGet)

PHP (Composer)

Containers (Docker)

OS (apt / yum)

IaC (Terraform)

Ecosystem-Specific Tool Recommendations

JavaScript (npm/yarn)

Open Source / Free

npm audit / yarn audit
GitHub Dependabot
OSV-Scanner

Commercial / Enterprise

Snyk
Checkmarx SCA
Veracode SCA

Python (pip/PyPI)

Open Source / Free

pip-audit
safety
Bandit (SAST)

Commercial / Enterprise

Snyk
Checkmarx SCA

Java (Maven/Gradle)

Open Source / Free

OWASP Dependency-Check
OSV-Scanner

Commercial / Enterprise

Snyk
Veracode SCA
JFrog Xray

.NET (NuGet)

Open Source / Free

dotnet list package --vulnerable
OWASP Dependency-Check

Commercial / Enterprise

Snyk
Veracode SCA

Containers (Docker)

Open Source / Free

Trivy
Grype
Clair

Commercial / Enterprise

Snyk Container
Prisma Cloud
Aqua Security

IaC (Terraform)

Open Source / Free

tfsec
Checkov
Terrascan

Commercial / Enterprise

Bridgecrew
Prisma Cloud

Key Proactive Protection Strategies

Dependency Curation & Control

Move from consuming public packages directly to a controlled, curated model.

Internal Repository: Use a tool like JFrog Artifactory or Sonatype Nexus as a private proxy.
Approval Process: Establish a formal process for vetting and approving new packages.
Whitelist/Blacklist: Maintain lists of approved packages and explicitly block known malicious ones.

Standardized Processes & Best Practices

Formalize our knowledge and response mechanisms so that everyone knows what to do.

Document Best Practices: Create and maintain a guide on secure dependency management.
Formalize Incident Response: The playbook presented here should be adopted as the official process.
Security Champions: Create a program to embed security expertise within development teams.

Roadmap for PDSF Implementation

Phase 1: Foundation (0-3 Months)

Adopt scanning script across all projects, formalize patch management process, and enforce quarterly token rotation.

Phase 2: Integration (3-6 Months)

Integrate security gates in CI/CD pipelines, define dependency trust policies, and establish an internal trusted registry.

Phase 3: Maturity (6+ Months)

Achieve full security automation and implement SOC-style monitoring for DevOps activities and dependency health.

Call to Action: Concrete Next Steps

Establish a Security Task Force

Input: Nominated members from Dev, DevOps, QA, Management.

Output: A formal charter defining roles & responsibilities.

Schedule Regular Check-ins

Input: Availability of the Security Task Force members.

Output: A recurring monthly meeting in the calendar.

Integrate Scanning Everywhere

Input: A complete list of all active project repositories.

Output: A report confirming 100% of projects have an automated security scan in their main pipeline.

Educate & Empower Developers

Input: Existing documentation, best practice guides.

Output: A mandatory training module and a "Security Champions" program proposal.