Software provenance: Why visibility into your software supply chain matters

In modern software development, getting an application up and running consists of an extensive software development lifecycle, often referred to as the* software supply chain*. This supply chain includes everything and everyone that touches your code from creation to deployment. While this interconnected ecosystem helps enable faster innovation, its size and complexity also bring many attack points for bad actors. As cybersecurity threats evolve, the risks associated with software supply chain vulnerabilities continue to rise dramatically. Recent research highlights alarming trends:

• 66% of supply chain attacks exploit compromised supplier codebases
• 71% of U.S. businesses experienced direct impacts from supply chain attacks in 2024
• 87% of container images contain critical vulnerabilities

These risks are escalating, as evidenced by security incidents such as MOVEit, the Change Healthcare ransomware attack, XZ, SolarWinds, and Log4j. These incidents have impacted public trust in software providers and emphasized the importance of stringent software security practices. Regulatory bodies in the US and EU are beginning to set stricter requirements on software supply chain security. These issues call for a re-evaluation of the tools, processes, and workflows that underpin software creation to meet the needs of the new landscape and ensure organizations remain secure and compliant.

This blog post looks at the concept of software provenance — having a verifiable history of software artifacts through comprehensive documentation and lifecycle details. Why is it necessary and what potential solutions are available?

»Challenges without software provenance

Establishing robust provenance is critical for transparency and security, yet organizations commonly encounter challenges such as:

• Limited visibility: Difficulty tracking the complete lifecycle of software artifacts
• Pipeline complexity: Insufficient metadata hinders troubleshooting and optimization within complex CI/CD environments
• Compliance and audit risk: Missing or inadequate provenance makes audits difficult, exposing companies to regulatory penalties and reputational harm

Without clear artifact lineage, teams across an organization struggle:

• Platform teams grapple with diagnosing CI/CD pipeline failures, optimization challenges, and inefficient resource allocation
• Application developers experience delays in debugging due to a lack of clarity about changes in build artifacts over time
• CISOs face obstacles in security assessments, incident response, and risk management, potentially leaving software vulnerable to security breaches
• Compliance teams encounter difficulties demonstrating compliance due to insufficient audit trails, exposing the organization to legal and financial risks

»Why you need software provenance

To stay compliant and reduce risk, organizations need to have visibility into the individual components or artifacts that make up their software. This could include information like where the code comes from, who wrote it, and if there have been any modifications. This concept is known as provenance, or having a verifiable history through comprehensive documentation that details the lifecycle of a software artifact.

Establishing comprehensive build provenance helps organizations validate and secure software artifacts at every lifecycle stage. Essential components include:

• Creation history: Information detailing when, where, and how the artifact was created
• Modification records: Logs that track every modification to the artifact
• Ownership and responsibility: Records of ownership and responsibility for the artifact at each lifecycle stage
• Dependencies: Metadata capturing dependencies on other artifacts and software components

Additionally, comprehensive artifact provenance aligns with McKinsey’s recommendations for mitigating third-party cybersecurity risks through:

1. Identifying single points of failure.
2. Continuously monitoring external attack surfaces.
3. Automatically detecting new vendor risks.
4. Operationalizing vendor cybersecurity management.

»Why HashiCorp Packer?

Accurate build provenance supports essential security verification, compliance assurance, and fosters accountability across teams. HCP Packer from HashiCorp uniquely addresses the need for artifact provenance in software build pipelines. HCP Packer sits at the very beginning of the software supply chain, providing extensive metadata visibility and integration capabilities crucial for ensuring security and compliance. Specifically, HCP Packer:

• Tracks build and plugin versions: Captures exact versions of Packer CLI and underlying plugins used during builds
• Records CI/CD pipeline metadata: Automatically collects metadata from tools like GitHub Actions and GitLab Pipelines, including Git repository URLs, commit SHAs, branch information, and pipeline execution details
• Package metadata: Captures package-level information embedded in images
• SBOM (Software Bill of Materials): Identifies all software components running within the image
• Achieves SLSA Level 1 compliance: Ensures artifacts are built following documented processes, adhering to industry-standard guidelines

Leveraging HCP Packer provides numerous tangible benefits to organizations, including:

• Enhanced security: Provenance verifies the integrity of software components, preventing tampering and unauthorized changes
• Improved compliance: Robust artifact metadata streamlines regulatory audits and compliance demonstrations
• Increased operational efficiency: Clear metadata simplifies troubleshooting, debugging, and optimization of build pipelines, reducing time to resolution
• Proactive risk management: Enables proactive detection of vulnerabilities, rapid response to threats, and easier management of third-party risks

HCP Packer mitigates risks through comprehensive artifact provenance. It provides deep visibility into artifact histories and enables rapid vulnerability response. Adopting HashiCorp’s HCP Packer for artifact provenance not only fortifies security posture but also ensures transparency, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency, significantly strengthening software supply chain resilience.

»Resources and next steps

Learn more about HCP Packer in from these resources and take the first steps toward a broader infrastructure lifecycle management strategy:

• Do cloud right: Image management
• Get Started with HCP Packer
• Learn Lab: HCP Packer: Build a golden image pipeline

Try HCP Terraform and HCP Packer for free to begin unifying your imaging and provisioning workflows and simplifying infrastructure lifecycle management.