About supply chain security

GitHub helps you secure your supply chain, from understanding the dependencies in your environment, to knowing about vulnerabilities in those dependencies, and patching them.

In this article

About supply chain security at GitHub

When developing a software project, you likely use other software to build and run your application, such as open-source libraries, frameworks or other tools. These resources are collectively referred to as your “dependencies”, because your project depends on them to function properly. Your project could rely on hundreds of these dependencies, forming what is known as your "supply chain".

Your supply chain can pose a security problem. If one of your dependencies has a known security weakness or a bug, malicious actors could exploit this vulnerability to, for example, insert malicious code ("malware"), steal sensitive data, or cause some other type of disruption to your project. This type of threat is called a "supply chain attack". Having vulnerable dependencies in your supply chain compromises the security of your own project, and you put your users at risk, too.

One of the most important things you can do to protect your supply chain is to patch your vulnerable dependencies and replace any malware.

You add dependencies directly to your supply chain when you specify them in a manifest file or a lockfile. Dependencies can also be included transitively, that is, even if you don’t specify a particular dependency, but a dependency of yours uses it, then you’re also dependent on that dependency.

GitHub offers a range of features to help you understand the dependencies in your environment, know about vulnerabilities in those dependencies, and patch them.

The supply chain features on GitHub are:

  • Dependency graph
  • Dependency review
  • Dependabot alerts
  • Dependabot updates
    • Dependabot security updates
    • Dependabot version updates

The dependency graph is central to supply chain security. The dependency graph identifies all upstream dependencies and public downstream dependents of a repository or package. You can see your repository’s dependencies and some of their properties, like vulnerability information, on the dependency graph for the repository.

Other supply chain features on GitHub rely on the information provided by the dependency graph.

  • Dependency review uses the dependency graph to identify dependency changes and help you understand the security impact of these changes when you review pull requests.
  • Dependabot cross-references dependency data provided by the dependency graph with the list of advisories published in the GitHub Advisory Database, scans your dependencies and generates Dependabot alerts when a potential vulnerability is detected.
  • Dependabot security updates use the dependency graph and Dependabot alerts to help you update dependencies with known vulnerabilities in your repository.

Dependabot version updates don't use the dependency graph and rely on the semantic versioning of dependencies instead. Dependabot version updates help you keep your dependencies updated, even when they don’t have any vulnerabilities.

For best practice guides on end-to-end supply chain security including the protection of personal accounts, code, and build processes, see Securing your end-to-end supply chain.

Feature overview

What is the dependency graph

To generate the dependency graph, GitHub looks at a repository’s explicit dependencies declared in the manifest and lockfiles. When enabled, the dependency graph automatically parses all known package manifest files in the repository, and uses this to construct a graph with known dependency names and versions.

  • The dependency graph includes information on your direct dependencies and transitive dependencies.
  • The dependency graph is automatically updated when you push a commit to GitHub that changes or adds a supported manifest or lock file to the default branch, and when anyone pushes a change to the repository of one of your dependencies.
  • You can see the dependency graph by opening the repository's main page on GitHub, and navigating to the Insights tab.
  • If you have at least read access to the repository, you can export the dependency graph for the repository as an SPDX-compatible, Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), via the GitHub UI or GitHub REST API. For more information, see Exporting a software bill of materials for your repository.

Additionally, you can use the dependency submission API to submit dependencies from the package manager or ecosystem of your choice, even if the ecosystem is not supported by dependency graph for manifest or lock file analysis. Dependencies submitted to a project using the dependency submission API will show which detector was used for their submission and when they were submitted. For more information on the dependency submission API, see Using the dependency submission API.

For more information about the dependency graph, see About the dependency graph.

What is dependency review

Dependency review helps reviewers and contributors understand dependency changes and their security impact in every pull request.

  • Dependency review tells you which dependencies were added, removed, or updated, in a pull request. You can use the release dates, popularity of dependencies, and vulnerability information to help you decide whether to accept the change.
  • You can see the dependency review for a pull request by showing the rich diff on the Files Changed tab.

For more information about dependency review, see About dependency review.

What is Dependabot

Dependabot keeps your dependencies up to date by informing you of any security vulnerabilities in your dependencies, and automatically opens pull requests to upgrade your dependencies to the next available secure version when a Dependabot alert is triggered, or to the latest version when a release is published.

The term "Dependabot" encompasses the following features:

  • Dependabot alerts: Displayed notification on the Security tab for the repository, and in the repository's dependency graph. The alert includes a link to the affected file in the project, and information about a fixed version.
  • Dependabot updates:
    • Dependabot security updates: Triggered updates to upgrade your dependencies to a secure version when an alert is triggered.
    • Dependabot version updates: Scheduled updates to keep your dependencies up to date with the latest version.

Pull requests opened by Dependabot can trigger workflows that run actions. For more information, see Automating Dependabot with GitHub Actions.

By default:

  • If GitHub Actions is enabled for the repository, GitHub runs Dependabot updates on GitHub Actions.

  • If GitHub Actions is not enabled for the repository, GitHub generates Dependabot alerts using the built-in Dependabot application in GitHub.

For more information, see About Dependabot on GitHub Actions runners.

Dependabot security updates can fix vulnerable dependencies in GitHub Actions. When security updates are enabled, Dependabot will automatically raise a pull request to update vulnerable GitHub Actions used in your workflows to the minimum patched version. For more information, see About Dependabot security updates.

What are Dependabot alerts

Dependabot alerts highlight repositories affected by a newly discovered vulnerability based on the dependency graph and the GitHub Advisory Database, which contains advisories for known vulnerabilities.

  • Dependabot performs a scan to detect insecure dependencies and sends Dependabot alerts when:

    • A new advisory is added to the GitHub Advisory Database.
    • The dependency graph for the repository changes.

  • Dependabot alerts are displayed on the Security tab for the repository and in the repository's dependency graph. The alert includes a link to the affected file in the project, and information about a fixed version.

For more information, see About Dependabot alerts.

What are Dependabot updates

There are two types of Dependabot updates: Dependabot security updates and version updates. Dependabot generates automatic pull requests to update your dependencies in both cases, but there are several differences.

Dependabot security updates:

  • Triggered by a Dependabot alert
  • Update dependencies to the minimum version that resolves a known vulnerability
  • Supported for ecosystems the dependency graph supports
  • Does not require a configuration file, but you can use one to override the default behavior

Dependabot version updates:

  • Requires a configuration file
  • Run on a schedule you configure
  • Update dependencies to the latest version that matches the configuration
  • Supported for a different group of ecosystems

For more information about Dependabot updates, see About Dependabot security updates and About Dependabot version updates.

Feature availability

Public repositories:

  • Dependency graph: Enabled by default and cannot be disabled.
  • Dependency review: Enabled by default and cannot be disabled.
  • Dependabot alerts: Not enabled by default. GitHub detects insecure dependencies and displays information in the dependency graph, but does not generate Dependabot alerts by default. Repository owners or people with admin access can enable Dependabot alerts. You can also enable or disable Dependabot alerts for all repositories owned by your user account or organization. For more information, see Managing security and analysis settings for your personal account or Managing security and analysis settings for your organization.

Private repositories:

Any repository type:

  • Dependabot security updates: Not enabled by default. You can enable Dependabot security updates for any repository that uses Dependabot alerts and the dependency graph. For information about enabling security updates, see Configuring Dependabot security updates.
  • Dependabot version updates: Not enabled by default. People with write permissions to a repository can enable Dependabot version updates. For information about enabling version updates, see Configuring Dependabot version updates.