Checkmarx SCA Review 2026: Supply Chain Detection

Name: Checkmarx SCA
Availability: OnlineOnly

Checkmarx SCA is an enterprise SCA tool that goes beyond CVE matching by using behavioral analysis to detect malicious packages and supply chain attacks. Part of the Checkmarx One platform, it has identified more than 420,000 malicious packages through a three-pronged approach: evaluating package provider credibility, assessing maintenance patterns, and analyzing package behavior.

Checkmarx SCA remediation dashboard showing vulnerability findings and fix recommendations

The tool integrates with Checkmarx’s SAST, DAST, and API security products, letting teams correlate SCA findings with other vulnerability types for unified prioritization. Checkmarx has held a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader position for AST for seven consecutive years.

What is Checkmarx SCA?

Checkmarx SCA evaluates dependencies from three angles. First, it checks maintainer credibility: contributor history, publishing patterns, and association with known malicious actors. Second, it assesses maintenance health: release frequency, issue response times, and community engagement. Third, it performs behavioral analysis: detecting packages that access sensitive system resources, establish suspicious network connections, or exhibit dependency confusion patterns.

Supply Chain Detection

Evaluates maintainer credibility, publishing patterns, and behavioral signals to catch malicious packages. Has identified 420K+ malicious packages including typosquatting and dependency confusion.

Exploitable Path Analysis

Traces all potential call paths to determine if vulnerable code is actually reachable. Filters findings so teams fix what matters rather than chasing theoretical risks.

Checkmarx One Integration

SCA findings correlate with SAST, DAST, and API security results in a single dashboard. Consistent policies and unified prioritization across all scan types.

Key features

Feature	Details
Malicious package detection	420,000+ identified packages; behavioral, credibility, and maintenance analysis
Accuracy	Zero false positives in industry testing (vs. 10% competitor FP rate)
Transitive dependency scanning	Unlimited depth; covers direct and indirect references
Exploitable path analysis	Maps all potential call paths to vulnerable code
License compliance	Policy-based enforcement with automated actions
SBOM generation	Industry-standard CycloneDX format
CVSS support	Up to CVSS 4.0 severity scoring
Container scanning	Docker and OCI image analysis
Private registries	JFrog Artifactory integration for private packages

Supply chain risk analysis

Checkmarx SCA evaluates the trustworthiness of package maintainers and repositories. Packages from suspicious sources receive higher risk scores regardless of known vulnerabilities. The analysis catches zero-day supply chain attacks before CVEs are published.

Checkmarx SCA accuracy testing showing zero false positives in vulnerability detection

Behavioral analysis

The engine analyzes what packages actually do: accessing sensitive system resources, establishing network connections, or exhibiting patterns associated with dependency confusion. This catches malicious code that CVE databases have not cataloged yet.

Zero False Positives

Checkmarx reports zero false positives in industry testing, compared to a 10% false positive rate from competitors. The exploitable path analysis traces all potential call paths to vulnerable OSS code to determine if it could actually execute in your application.

Transitive dependency scanning

The tool scans transitive dependencies to unlimited depth. It covers both direct and indirect package references, including packages pulled from private JFrog Artifactory registries.

Checkmarx SCA transitive dependency scanning showing deep dependency tree analysis

License compliance

Define acceptable licenses for your organization, get alerts when dependencies introduce problematic terms, and generate compliance reports. Policy rules support automated actions including alerts, PR blocking, and build breaks.

Checkmarx SCA license risk management showing compliance tracking and policy enforcement

SBOM generation

Generates Software Bills of Materials in CycloneDX format. SBOMs include full dependency trees with vulnerability status and license information.

Checkmarx SCA SBOM generation showing software bill of materials output

Container scanning

Analyzes container images for vulnerable base layers and installed packages. Examines Dockerfiles, identifies the base image supply chain, and maps vulnerabilities across all image layers.

Integrations

CI/CD & DevOps

GitHub Actions

GitLab CI

Azure DevOps

Jenkins

IDEs

VS Code

IntelliJ IDEA

Visual Studio

Eclipse

Registries & Tools

JFrog Artifactory

Docker Desktop

Getting started

Install the CLI — Download the Checkmarx CLI (cx) from the Checkmarx One portal. Available for Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Configure authentication — Run cx configure and enter your Checkmarx One tenant, API key, and base URL.

Run an SCA scan — Execute cx scan create --project-name my-project --source . --scan-types sca.

Review results — View findings in the Checkmarx One dashboard or export as JSON with cx results show. Focus on exploitable path findings first.

Checkmarx SCA policy rules with automated actions for vulnerability and license management

When to use Checkmarx SCA

Checkmarx SCA fits organizations that need supply chain attack detection beyond standard CVE matching, especially those already using or considering Checkmarx One for SAST.

The behavioral analysis and malicious package database (420K+ packages) provide detection that CVE-only scanners miss. Exploitable path analysis cuts through alert noise by showing which vulnerabilities have reachable code paths.

It is a commercial product with no permanent free tier. Organizations only needing basic CVE scanning may find lighter-weight tools sufficient.

Best for

Teams that need supply chain attack detection alongside traditional vulnerability scanning, especially those using Checkmarx One for unified AppSec across SAST, SCA, DAST, and API security.

How it compares:

vs.	Key difference
Snyk Open Source	Snyk has a broader developer ecosystem and free tier. Checkmarx SCA has deeper behavioral analysis for supply chain attacks and correlates with Checkmarx SAST.
Socket	Socket focuses on behavioral analysis for npm/PyPI. Checkmarx SCA covers more ecosystems and integrates with a full AppSec platform.
Veracode SCA	Both offer supply chain detection (Veracode via Phylum acquisition). Checkmarx SCA ties into the broader Checkmarx One platform; Veracode ties into the Veracode suite.

Learn more about what SCA tools do and how to integrate SCA into CI/CD pipelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Checkmarx SCA?

Checkmarx SCA is an enterprise SCA tool that combines vulnerability scanning with behavioral analysis to detect malicious packages and supply chain attacks. It is part of the Checkmarx One platform alongside SAST, DAST, and API security. The tool has identified more than 420,000 malicious packages.

How does Checkmarx SCA detect supply chain attacks?

Checkmarx SCA uses a three-pronged approach: evaluating package provider credibility, assessing maintenance patterns, and performing behavioral analysis to detect malicious intent. It has identified 420K+ malicious packages including typosquatting and dependency confusion.

Does Checkmarx SCA work standalone?

Checkmarx SCA can be used independently, but it works best as part of Checkmarx One where SCA findings correlate with SAST, DAST, and API security results for unified prioritization.

Is there a free version of Checkmarx SCA?

Checkmarx offers a free trial of Checkmarx One including SCA. There is no permanent free tier. For free SCA alternatives, consider Grype, OWASP Dependency-Check, or Trivy.

How accurate is Checkmarx SCA?

Checkmarx reports zero false positives in industry testing, compared to 10% false positive rates from competitors. Exploitable path analysis filters findings to vulnerabilities with reachable code paths.