LibreOffice

Challenges in Building Accurate SBOMs for C and C++ Projects Highlighted by CodeScoring Analysis

C and C++ ecosystems lack centralized package manifests, making SBOM generation far more complex than in Python, Java, or JavaScript. Libraries may arrive through system package managers like apt or dnf, build tools such as Conan and vcpkg, or direct source inclusion, with no single record of all components. CodeScoring’s Johnny agent uses eBPF to observe linker commands during builds and cross-references results with dpkg, RPM, and pkg-config metadata. The analysis distinguishes build-time SBOMs, which capture static libraries and compilation commands, from runtime SBOMs that reflect dynamic dependencies at execution. When version data cannot be verified, components are explicitly marked unresolved rather than guessed. The approach also addresses header-only libraries and patched artifacts that defeat simple hash matching.