Black Duck

Black Duck is an enterprise SCA platform for managing open-source security, license compliance, and code quality risks. The Synopsys Software Integrity Group was spun out in 2024 and now operates independently as Black Duck Software.

The platform scans source code, binaries, and containers to identify open-source components, map known vulnerabilities, and flag license obligations. Over 4,000 customers use it, and Black Duck has been named a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for Application Security Testing for eight consecutive years.

The Black Duck KnowledgeBase covers over 8.7 million open-source projects and 15+ billion code files. Proprietary Black Duck Security Advisories (BDSAs) add vulnerability intelligence that goes beyond public databases like the NVD. Companies in regulated industries (healthcare, finance, defense) use it for audit-grade SBOM generation and license compliance. The Synopsys 2024 OSSRA report found that 53% of audited codebases contained license conflicts, reinforcing why tools like Black Duck remain critical for enterprises shipping commercial software with open-source components.

What is Black Duck?

Black Duck scans source code, binaries, and containers to build a complete inventory of open-source components. It then checks each component against vulnerability databases, identifies license obligations, and enforces organizational policies.

Key features

Supported ecosystems

Black Duck Security Advisories (BDSAs)

The security research team curates advisories that often land before NVD entries are published. Each BDSA includes exploitability analysis (whether known exploits exist in the wild), recommended upgrade paths that avoid breaking changes, and severity scoring calibrated to real-world risk. You can also add custom vulnerability entries for internal findings.

License compliance

This is where Black Duck has the deepest feature set among SCA tools. The platform identifies all license types across your portfolio, flags conflicts (GPL components in proprietary software, for example), and generates attribution reports. Custom policies let you define acceptable licenses per project or across the organization. Dual-licensed components are tracked with their commercial alternatives.

Container and binary analysis

Black Duck goes beyond source code. It analyzes Docker images and OCI containers, scans compiled binaries without source access, and identifies components in firmware and embedded systems. This matters for organizations that receive third-party software or need to verify what actually ships to production.

Black Duck Assist (AI)

Black Duck Assist uses AI to generate issue summaries, code analysis, and fix suggestions. It reduces the time spent triaging findings by providing context that would otherwise require manual research.

Setup

Synopsys Detect CLI

The primary integration method uses the Synopsys Detect CLI tool:

# Download and run Synopsys Detect
curl -O https://detect.blackduck.com/detect10.sh
chmod +x detect10.sh

# Run a scan
./detect10.sh \
  --blackduck.url=https://your-blackduck-server.com \
  --blackduck.api.token=$BLACKDUCK_API_TOKEN \
  --detect.project.name="my-application" \
  --detect.project.version.name="1.0.0"

Configuration Options

Create a application-blackduck.yml for reusable configuration:

blackduck:
  url: https://your-blackduck-server.com
  api:
    token: ${BLACKDUCK_API_TOKEN}

detect:
  project:
    name: my-application
    version:
      name: ${BUILD_VERSION}
  policy:
    check:
      fail:
        on:
          severities: BLOCKER,CRITICAL
  risk:
    report:
      pdf: true

Integration

GitHub Actions

name: Black Duck SCA

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  blackduck-scan:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Java
        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          distribution: 'temurin'
          java-version: '17'

      - name: Run Black Duck Scan
        uses: blackduck-inc/black-duck-security-scan@v2
        with:
          blackduck-url: ${{ secrets.BLACKDUCK_URL }}
          blackduck-token: ${{ secrets.BLACKDUCK_API_TOKEN }}
          blackduck-scan-full: true
          blackduck-scan-failure-severities: 'BLOCKER,CRITICAL'

      - name: Upload SBOM
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: sbom
          path: '**/blackduck-sbom.*'

GitLab CI

stages:
  - security

blackduck-scan:
  stage: security
  image: openjdk:17-slim
  variables:
    DETECT_LATEST_RELEASE_VERSION: "10"
  script:
    - apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl bash
    - curl -O https://detect.blackduck.com/detect10.sh
    - chmod +x detect10.sh
    - ./detect10.sh
        --blackduck.url=$BLACKDUCK_URL
        --blackduck.api.token=$BLACKDUCK_API_TOKEN
        --detect.project.name=$CI_PROJECT_NAME
        --detect.project.version.name=$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
        --detect.policy.check.fail.on.severities=BLOCKER,CRITICAL
        --detect.risk.report.pdf=true
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - "**/blackduck*.pdf"
    expire_in: 30 days
  rules:
    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH

Jenkins Pipeline

pipeline {
    agent any

    environment {
        BLACKDUCK_URL = credentials('blackduck-url')
        BLACKDUCK_API_TOKEN = credentials('blackduck-api-token')
    }

    stages {
        stage('Black Duck Scan') {
            steps {
                synopsys_detect detectProperties: '''
                    --detect.project.name=${JOB_NAME}
                    --detect.project.version.name=${BUILD_NUMBER}
                    --detect.policy.check.fail.on.severities=BLOCKER,CRITICAL
                '''
            }
        }
    }

    post {
        always {
            archiveArtifacts artifacts: '**/blackduck*.pdf', allowEmptyArchive: true
        }
    }
}

When to use Black Duck

Black Duck fits enterprises with large open-source portfolios where license compliance carries real legal consequences. It is built for regulated industries, M&A due diligence, and organizations shipping commercial products that include open-source components.

Strengths:

• KnowledgeBase with 8.7M+ projects and 15B+ code files
• BDSAs provide earlier vulnerability intelligence than NVD
• Deep license compliance with attribution report generation
• Container and binary scanning beyond source code
• Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for AST (8 consecutive years)

Limitations:

• Commercial only, no free tier. For free alternatives, use OWASP Dependency-Check or Grype
• Heavier setup compared to developer-first tools like Snyk
• No automated fix PRs (pair with Renovate for dependency updates)

How it compares:

Frequently Asked Questions