Dependency-Track
Introduction
Dependency-Track is an open-source Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tool that helps organizations manage and secure their software supply chain. It automatically generates and maintains a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for projects and the continuously monitors dependencies for known vulnerabilities. In addition, it tracks license compliance of open-source components, giving teams greater visibility and control. By integrating seamlessly into DevOps and CI/CD pipelines, Dependency-Track makes it easier to embed security throughout the development lifecycle.
There are several useful resources available to get started with Dependency-Track:
Dependency-Track Documentation
Accessing Dependency-Track
Dependency-Track is integrated into the DevOps-as-a-Service tool chain, but for now it is only available to pilot customers. To get started, a few prerequisites need to be in place.
Preconditions in DevOps portal to access Dependency-Track
- A DepTrack license must be assigned to the user by a Portal Admin.
- DepTrack must be added to the tool list of the project by a Project Admin or Portal Admin.
After completing the preconditions, a project in Dependency-Track, which is part of the DevOps-as-a-Service tool chain, can be accessed via the DevOps Portal or directly through the Depdency-Track URL.
Via DevOps Portal
Go to the DevOps Portal Homepage and click on the link Project in the Project Vulnerabilities tile:
⚠ Note
If you are still unable to access your project in Dependency-Track, it may be because you are logged in with an old session that still uses outdated permissions. To resolve this issue, please log out and then log in again.
For some reason, you may need to click more than one time on the OpenID button or go to the login page (https://deptrack-<customer>.devops.t-systems.net/login) to access the new session.
Via Direct URL
You can also access Dependency-Track directly using the following link format:
https://deptrack-<customer>.devops.t-systems.net/projects where <customer> is the id of your DevOps-as-a-Service instance.
If you are not already logged in to another tool in the tool chain or the DevOps portal, then you have to log in using your configured SSO credentials.
Projects
After creating a DevOps project in the portal, a Dependency-Track project is automatically created. The type of the new project is Collection Project. Subprojects which keep the real SBOM scan results are later created as children of this collection project. This makes it easier to see aggregated metrics, such as vulnerabilities and license compliance, without having to open each subproject individually.
For more details, see the Collection Projects section in the Dependency-Track documentation.
Integration with Jenkins
The Jenkins Shared Library will automatically create SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) files for maven projects and upload them to Dependency-Track.
A new Dependency-Track sub project is automatically created on the fly.
Currently, this option is only available for Maven projects.
Users and Roles
- Projects, users and their roles in projects are managed in the DevOps Portal, the corresponding functions in Dependency-Track are disabled (UI and API).
- Users assigned to a project in the DevOps Portal are automatically added to the matching Dependency-Track projects with the roles as shown below:
Project Role in DevOps Portal Permissions in Dependency-Track Admin POLICY_VIOLATION_ANALYSIS, VIEW_POLICY_VIOLATION, VIEW_PORTFOLIO, VIEW_VULNERABILITY, VULNERABILITY_ANALYSIS Master POLICY_VIOLATION_ANALYSIS, VIEW_POLICY_VIOLATION, VIEW_PORTFOLIO, VIEW_VULNERABILITY, VULNERABILITY_ANALYSIS Developer POLICY_VIOLATION_ANALYSIS, VIEW_POLICY_VIOLATION, VIEW_PORTFOLIO, VIEW_VULNERABILITY, VULNERABILITY_ANALYSIS Viewer VIEW_POLICY_VIOLATION, VIEW_PORTFOLIO, VIEW_VULNERABILITY
Main Features
Auditing Basics
Dependency-Track offers a robust auditing workflow: you can triage findings on individual projects, add comments, and record analysis decisions. The platform logs a complete audit trail for each action. Users with the VULNERABILITY_ANALYSIS permission can perform these audits, and audit histories are visible to anyone with the VIEW_VULNERABILITY permission.
You can explore the Auditing Basics section in the Dependency-Track documentation for deeper insights.
Impact Analysis
Dependency-Track enables organizations to assess how a vulnerability affects their environment. If a vulnerability is published in a supported datasource (e.g., NVD, GitHub Advisories, OSS Index, VulnDB), the platform dynamically identifies all affected projects. This allows you to answer: "What is affected?" and "Where am I affected?" at a glance.
You can explore the Impact Analysis section in the Dependency-Track documentation for deeper insights.
Analysis States
Dependency-Track tracks the status of findings through their lifecycle via "analysis states". These help teams understand whether findings are new, under review, suppressed, or resolved. You can reference the Analysis States section in the documentation for full details on available statuses and workflows.
You can explore the Analysis States section in the Dependency-Track documentation for deeper insights.