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CSSLP · domain

Secure Software Supply Chain

This domain covers securing everything that enters your build and release pipeline from outside your team: third-party libraries, container base images, vendor software, and SaaS dependencies. Questions present concrete supply chain scenarios — signed artifacts, npm registries, Docker tags, vendor risk programs — and ask you to pick the control or practice that actually closes the integrity, provenance, or fourth-party risk gap described.

20 questions6 easy9 medium5 hard

Focused practice

Practice Secure Software Supply Chain questions

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What this domain covers

What to know about Secure Software Supply Chain

Be able to select the right supply chain control for a given scenario: signature verification for provenance, scoped registries and pinned digests for dependency integrity, and evidence-based fourth-party oversight. The single most important thing is distinguishing integrity from authenticity — only signatures prove origin.

Verifying code signing and artifact signatures to confirm integrity and origin authenticity

Configuring npm scoped packages and .npmrc registry settings to prevent dependency confusion

Evaluating vendor risk management programs for fourth-party and subcontractor oversight

Pinning Docker image digests instead of mutable tags like ':latest' in build pipelines

Watch out for

Common Secure Software Supply Chain exam traps

  • ▸Treating a checksum or hash as proof of origin — it only proves integrity, not who produced the artifact; signatures bind identity.
  • ▸Assuming a private registry alone stops dependency confusion without scoping packages or pinning the registry in .npmrc.
  • ▸Believing a vendor's own security questionnaire answers constitute mature fourth-party risk management rather than independent verification.

Question index

All Secure Software Supply Chain questions (20)

Click any question to see the full explanation, or start a practice session above.

1

When designing an automated pipeline to prevent supply chain attacks, which THREE of the following features should be included in your artifact registry?

Medium
2

What is the primary function of a 'Vulnerability Disclosure Policy' (VDP) in a vendor's secure development lifecycle?

Easy
3

Your development team is integrating a new third-party library via npm. To prevent dependency confusion attacks where a malicious package is pulled from a public registry instead of your internal private registry, which configuration should be applied?

Medium
4

You notice that your build server environment pulls Docker images from a public registry with the ':latest' tag. Why is this a major supply chain security flaw?

Medium
5

A software vendor provides a critical component to your organization. During contract negotiations, you request that the vendor provide a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for each release. The vendor agrees to provide a document listing all open-source libraries and their versions. Which additional attribute is most important to include in the SBOM to support rapid vulnerability response?

Easy
6

To protect against a compromised build pipeline, which TWO of the following configurations should be implemented to ensure 'Hermetic Builds'?

Medium
7

When performing a vendor security assessment for a new SaaS product, which THREE of the following should be requested to evaluate their supply chain resilience?

Medium
8

An organization is adopting the SLSA (Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts) framework. To achieve Level 3, what requirement must be met regarding the build platform?

Hard
9

A supplier asks you to describe your 'Supply Chain Security Policy'. What is the most appropriate foundational element to include?

Easy
10

During a vendor security assessment, you require a supplier to provide proof that their software is signed. Which mechanism should you verify to ensure the code's integrity and origin authenticity?

Easy
11

You are setting up an automated policy in GitHub Actions to block builds that contain dependencies with known high-severity vulnerabilities. Which tool is standard for this type of automated gated check?

Medium
12

When evaluating a vendor's open-source usage, which factor is the strongest indicator of a proactive security posture?

Easy
13

Which THREE of the following are common threats to the Software Supply Chain that an SBOM can help mitigate?

Hard
14

Your organization is adopting the SLSA framework to improve supply chain security. You are evaluating a build system that claims to meet SLSA level 3. During an assessment, you find that the build system generates provenance but does not sign it, and the provenance is stored on the same server that performs builds. Which SLSA level requirement is most directly violated by this finding?

Medium
15

You are using 'in-toto' to secure your software supply chain. What is the primary purpose of a 'layout' file in this framework?

Medium
16

You are designing a secure software supply chain for a healthcare application that must comply with FDA premarket cybersecurity guidance. Your team proposes using the OWASP Dependency-Check tool within the CI pipeline to identify vulnerable third-party libraries. Which TWO additional practices are essential to establish a defensible component governance process that meets regulatory expectations? (Choose two.)

Hard
17

An organization is concerned about 'Typosquatting' in their build system. Which strategy is most effective at preventing the accidental inclusion of malicious, similarly-named packages?

Hard
18

Which TWO of the following are essential components of an effective Vendor Security Assessment program?

Easy
19

A financial services firm mandates that every open-source component pulled into its build pipeline must carry a cryptographically signed provenance attestation from the original project maintainer. During a review, you discover that Sigstore's cosign verification succeeds, but the attestation was generated by an internal CI runner rather than the upstream maintainer. What is the most significant supply chain risk introduced by this configuration?

Medium
20

When assessing a SaaS provider's supply chain, you are concerned about their 'Vendor Risk Management' (VRM) program. Which practice indicates a mature approach to fourth-party risk?

Hard

Frequently asked questions

What does the Secure Software Supply Chain domain cover on the CSSLP exam?
Be able to select the right supply chain control for a given scenario: signature verification for provenance, scoped registries and pinned digests for dependency integrity, and evidence-based fourth-party oversight. The single most important thing is distinguishing integrity from authenticity — only signatures prove origin.
How many questions are in this domain?
This page lists all 20 Secure Software Supply Chain questions in the CSSLP question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
What is the best way to practise this domain?
Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
Can I practise only Secure Software Supply Chain questions?
Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.
(ISC)2 Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) (CSSLP) Secure Software Supply Chain Practice Questions