Secure Your Ansible Automation: Introducing SBOM, CVE Analysis, and Security Reports

What is SBOM?

A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) is essentially the list of elements in your software. Just as a food label indicates ingredients, an SBOM provides a detailed inventory of the components, libraries and dependencies in your applications, automation environments, or playbooks.

At its core, an SBOM is a structured record of all parts that make up a piece of software. This includes open-source libraries, proprietary code and licensed third-party dependencies. A comprehensive SBOM can also capture details about the build process, such as the tools and environments used.

For Ansible users, SBOMs provide visibility into the dependencies that playbooks and collections rely on. They help identify potential vulnerabilities in the execution environment or collections and allow teams to make informed decisions about whether it’s safe to use.

Why is SBOM important in Ansible?

If one of your collections or environments contains a hidden vulnerability, you could be unknowingly introducing risks into your infrastructure. With SBOMs, you can:

• Gain visibility into collection dependencies and potential vulnerabilities

• Decide which execution environments are safe to use

• Compare different versions and choose the one with the fewest weaknesses

• Identify vulnerabilities early and keep environments up to date and secure

Consider SBOMs as your blueprint for secure and reliable automation. This benefits not only developers, but also operations teams who can better predict their deployments, security professionals who can act on clear insights, and compliance officers who get the visibility they need. An SBOM becomes a shared source of truth for all teams to make a safer decision at every stage.

It’s no longer just best practice to know what’s in your software, it’s an obligation. By creating and maintaining SBOMs, you not only protect your infrastructure but also meet new global standards that demand transparency and resilience in the digital supply chain.

How can I introduce SBOMs in my organization?

Getting started with SBOMs doesn’t have to be overwhelming. The key is to integrate them into your existing workflows so that they become a natural part of your development and automation process. Here are some practical steps:

1. Introduce tools that generate SBOMs automatically: Manual creation is not scalable. Choose solutions like Steampunk Spotter that extract SBOMs directly from your playbooks, collections, and execution environments.

2. Create a baseline for your environments: Generate SBOMs for the execution environments and collections you use most often. This gives you a clear overview of your current dependencies and any hidden vulnerabilities.

3. Integrate SBOM checks into your CI/CD pipeline: Treat SBOMs as part of your quality and security controls. Running them continuously ensures that new dependencies are tracked and assessed before they reach production.

4. Combine SBOMs with vulnerability scans: An SBOM is an inventory in its own. Combine it with a CVE analysis to uncover the real risks behind these components and feed the results into security reports that your team can act on.

5. Educate your teams: Developers will use SBOMs to detect issues early, security teams will monitor risks in real time, and operations will decide which environments are safe for production. SBOMs are most valuable when they are understood and applied across the organization.

By adopting SBOMs early and pairing them with tools like CVE analysis and security reports, you move from reactive problem-solving to proactive security management. This means fewer disruptions, more secure deployments and greater confidence in every automation project you undertake.

From SBOMs to CVE Analysis and Security Reports

In our Steampunk Spotter, SBOM creation is directly integrated into the workflow. Imagine you want to run an Ansible Playbook for a critical deployment. Before execution, Spotter will provide you with a complete SBOM for the collection, listing all dependencies and flagging all vulnerable components.

This means you’re not flying blind. Instead, you can make an informed decision: Stick with the current collection or alert your security team before proceeding.

An SBOM tells you what’s inside. But what about the risks? This is where CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) Analysis comes into play.

Spotter takes the SBOMs from your collections used in your playbooks and runs them against known vulnerability databases. The result? Actionable insights summarized in a security report that shows you all the risks in your Ansible content at a glance.

Making SBOMs actionable with CVE Analysis

With Spotter’s CVE Analysis and Security Reports, you can:

• Know exactly what risks are associated with a collection before you use it

• Ensure your security team is aware of potential threats associated with dependencies

• Continuously assess vulnerabilities and decide whether a collection is secure enough for production

• Expect fewer surprises, smoother audits and greater confidence in your automation stack.

Spotter Security Reports in action

Let’s say you manage multiple collections for different teams. Spotter generates Security Reports that highlight which versions contain particularly high-risk vulnerabilities. Instead of guessing, you can compare collections side-by-side and recommend the one with the lowest risk profile.

Achieve compliant and secure Ansible automation

Stop worrying about security risks in your Ansible playbooks. Explore features like SBOM, CVE Analysis, and detailed Security Reports in action by reserving A FREE PLAYBOOK ASSESSMENT . This expert-led review evaluates your own playbooks, giving you valuable insights into their security gaps and helping you identify potential risks that often go unnoticed.