releasescan

Releasescan is a term used in software development to describe a process or toolchain that analyzes release artifacts prior to deployment to identify security, compliance, and quality issues. It is typically integrated into continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines to provide automated checks on the integrity of a release.

Its inputs include the release candidate artifacts (binaries, containers, installers), release notes, and dependency manifests. The scan combines software composition analysis, vulnerability databases, license checks, and policy rules to assess risks. Outputs include a structured report with risk scores, lists of vulnerable components, license violations, and remediation recommendations. Some implementations generate a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) and policy-compliance attestations for governance.

Common features: vulnerability scanning against databases such as CVE feeds; license and license compatibility checks; SBOM generation; change impact analysis; integration with ticketing and build systems; configurable risk thresholds; audit trails.

Process and adoption: teams wire releasescan into build pipelines; results are reviewed by security or release engineers; high-risk issues can block release; findings may be remediated by upgrading dependencies or applying patches. The approach helps reduce supply chain risk but can produce false positives and require upkeep of vulnerability data.

See also: software composition analysis, SBOM, vulnerability management, software supply chain security.