API supply chain security and SBOMs

Why SBOMs matter

Government guidance following EO 14028 and EU NIS2 is pushing suppliers to provide verifiable software bills of materials. For APIs, that means documenting every library, SDK, and third-party service referenced in your specification. A 2025 report from ReversingLabs notes that 65% of organizations saw a software supply-chain attack in the last year.

Building an API-aware SBOM

• Generate SBOMs from both code and OpenAPI specs so consumers know which upstream services you call.
• Include hashes, licenses, and component versions; avoid floating versions in SDK dependencies.
• Publish SBOM files alongside your docs; link them from the API description.

Use the API security SAST tools to flag unpinned dependencies and outdated libraries referenced in your contract.

Continuous monitoring

Subscribe to vulnerability feeds (NVD, GitHub advisories) and auto-open issues when a component in the SBOM is affected. Re-run SAST testing for APIs after each dependency update to catch breaking changes in upstream responses.