Dependency
A component required to build or operate software. Direct dependencies are explicitly selected; transitive dependencies are introduced through other components.
- Also called
- transitive dependency
Covered in
Triage new dependency vulnerability findings
Turn a weekly batch of Dependabot, OSV-Scanner or npm audit findings into a short list of distinct, shipped, reachable issues, each routed to one outcome: fix, not affected, accept or escalate.
Respond to an exploited or malicious dependency
When a dependency vulnerability is being exploited, or a package version is malicious, triage gives way to incident response: find every running copy, contain it, patch and redeploy, hunt for exploitation, rotate secrets and close on deployed evidence.
Stop dependency confusion and typosquatting at install time
Pin every internal package name to its real source, verify installed bytes against a lockfile, and delay or gate install scripts so a public look-alike cannot replace a private dependency.
Investigate a suspected malicious package safely
Distinguish package substitution, publisher compromise and dangerous installation behavior while containing exposure and preserving evidence.
Review dependency health without treating a score as a guarantee
Combine security practices, maintenance, licensing and product exposure into a recorded adoption or replacement decision.
Case study: event-stream and ua-parser-js, two npm package takeovers
Two ways attackers took over popular npm packages: event-stream (2018), handed to a stranger who added a targeted, encrypted payload through a new dependency, and ua-parser-js (2021), whose maintainer's account was hijacked to publish versions that installed malware for four hours. Timelines, detection and the controls that stop both.