Shift-Left Approach for Vulnerability Management in SDLC

Shift-Left Approach for Vulnerability Management in SDLC

Kamalakar Reddy Ponaka
kamalakar.ponaka@gmail.com

DOI: 10.55041/IJSREM9417

Abstract — Security vulnerabilities in software development can lead to severe risks if not addressed promptly. By adopting a shift-left approach and implementing gating mechanisms in Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, organizations can mitigate the impact of high and critical vulnerabilities early in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This paper discusses a practical methodology for integrating security gates into the CI/CD pipeline to prevent the release of software with critical security flaws.

Keywords —Vulnerability Management, Shift-Left Security, CI/CD Pipeline, High Vulnerabilities, Critical Vulnerabilities, Security Gating, SDLC, GitLab, Automation.

Conclusion

By adopting a shift-left security approach and integrating gating mechanisms for high and critical vulnerabilities into CI/CD pipelines, organizations can significantly reduce security risks. This method ensures that only secure code is deployed to production environments, aligning security goals with continuous delivery processes. Future work includes exploring the integration of advanced machine learning techniques to detect security issues dynamically and automate false-positive management.

References

[1]      Smith, J., et al., "Automated Vulnerability Detection in SDLC," IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 2022.

[2]      Doe, A., et al., "The Shift-Left Paradigm in DevOps Security," International Journal of Secure Software Engineering, 2021

[3]      Davis, R., "Integrating Security into DevOps," Proceedings of the DevSecOps Conference, 2020.

[4]      Martinez, P., "Security Gating in CI/CD Pipelines," IEEE Software, 2023.