Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) have rapidly evolved from a niche idea to a mainstream security requirement. Government regulations, customer demands, and high-profile attacks on the software supply chain have forced organisations to adopt SBOMs at scale.
On paper, the concept is straightforward: keep a list of software components to assess risk. In reality, many organisations find that the process of implementing and managing SBOMs is much more complicated than they anticipated. The tools produce files, but the visibility is not complete. The disclosure of vulnerabilities is still a manual process. The leadership wonders if the SBOM efforts are providing tangible value.
These are not random results. They are the product of ongoing SBOM challenges in technology, process and ownership. Recognizing these challenges is the first step in constructing an SBOM program that will deliver better security results.
Why SBOM Adoption Often Starts Strong but Stalls
Many SBOM projects begin with a sense of urgency.
However, the momentum can often lose steam because of:
- Pressure to meet compliance deadlines
- One-time generation efforts without a lifecycle plan
- Less coordination between security and development teams
- Unrealistic expectations about immediate value
These early SBOM challenges cause programs to stall at basic adoption levels, where SBOMs exist but aren’t used.
Incomplete and Inaccurate SBOM Data
Accuracy is the key to any SBOM program.
One of the most common SBOM challenges is incomplete data caused by:
- Missing transitive dependencies
- Inconsistent build environments
- Manual SBOM creation
- Lack of validation against runtime systems
If the data in SBOM is not trustworthy, then teams are reluctant to use it in vulnerability response, which defeats the whole purpose of adopting SBOM.
Difficulty Keeping SBOMs Up to Date
Modern software changes constantly. Frequent releases, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure-as-code introduce continuous change.
One of the biggest challenges in SBOM is maintaining the inventory as applications change.
The common causes are:
- SBOMs generated only at release time
- No automation in build pipelines
- Ownership for updates unclear
- Lack of lifecycle governance
Legacy SBOMs give a false sense of security and cause delays in incident response when speed matters most.
Overwhelming Volume of Component Data
As organizations increase in size, the SBOMs also increase in size and complexity.
Teams commonly experience difficulties with:
- Thousands of components across portfolios
- Duplicate libraries across applications
- Multiple SBOM formats
- Limited analysis capabilities
The challenges that come with SBOM make visibility an issue of overload. It makes it hard to prioritize what matters most from a risk perspective.
Limited Integration with Vulnerability Management
SBOMs deliver value only when they inform security decisions.
A critical challenge in SBOM is when the SBOM data is not integrated with the vulnerability intelligence and remediation processes.
This results in:
- Manual correlation during disclosures
- Delayed impact assessment
- Over-remediation of low-risk
- Missed prioritisation opportunities
Without integration, SBOMs are passive inventories rather than active security tools.
Lack of Clear Ownership and Accountability
Gaps in ownership can undermine even the best tooling.
Organisations face challenges in SBOM because:
- Security teams generate SBOMs
- Development teams own dependencies
- Deployment is handled by operations teams
- No single group owns SBOM accuracy
Without accountability, SBOMs are “someone else’s problem,” resulting in inconsistent updates and usage.
Managing SBOMs for Third-Party Software
Internal software is not the only thing that is part of the supply chain.
Third-party and vendor software pose additional challenges to SBOM, including:
- Inconsistent vendor SBOM quality
- Lack of standard formats
- Trouble validating vendor claims
- Limited visibility into nested dependencies
These factors make risk assessment more complex and tend to arise during audit or incident situations rather than being addressed beforehand.
Treating SBOMs as Compliance Artifacts
Pressure to comply is a big adoption driver, but it’s also a big risk.
When SBOMs are treated purely as documentation:
- Generation is prioritised over accuracy
- Usage during incidents is minimal
- Continuous Improvement is neglected
This approach perpetuates the challenges of SBOM by focusing on checkboxes over operational value.
Gaps Between SBOMs and Runtime Reality
What is built is not always what runs.
One of the subtle but important challenges of SBOM is the mismatch between SBOM data and runtime environments because of:
- Dynamic loading of components
- Configuration-based feature enablement
- Container drift across environments
When SBOMs do not reflect runtime reality, response teams are left to rely on manual analysis.
Measuring SBOM Success the Wrong Way
Many organisations struggle to define success.
Common but misleading indicators include:
- Number of SBOMs generated
- Compliance completion rates
- Tool deployment milestones
“Meaningful measurement” is perhaps the most underappreciated challenge of SBOM, yet it determines long-term sustainability.
What Overcoming SBOM Challenges Looks Like in Practice
The organisations that are successful in SBOMs take a disciplined approach.
They usually:
- Automate SBOM generation in CI/CD pipelines
- Validate SBOMs against runtime environments
- Integrate SBOMs with vulnerability management
- Assign clear ownership and governance
- Use SBOMs in real-world incidents
This approach transforms SBOMs from static files into operational assets.
Next Steps
Organisations struggling with SBOM challenges should first make an honest assessment about how SBOMs are created, maintained and used today. Often, the issue isn’t the tooling, but the integration and ownership.
CyberNX is a cybersecurity firm that has built an AI-enabled SBOM management tool indigenously and provides deep component insights, automated vulnerability detection and compliance tracking across the entire software supply chain.
Conclusion
SBOM adoption is no longer optional, but success is not guaranteed. SBOM challenges like data accuracy, lifecycle management, ownership and integration continue to limit real-world impact for many organisations. Companies that understand and address these issues directly are more likely to achieve the benefits of SBOMs: fast response, better prioritization and strong software supply chain resilience. It is not about being perfect. It’s about building a program that works when it matters most.
