Shift left done right: Driving early vulnerability detection through pre-commit and build system security

As organisations navigate security fatigue and resource constraints, one bright spot remains: the growing adoption of pre-commit and build system security, signalling a proactive shift toward early vulnerability detection.

The software security landscape is increasingly focused on shifting left – the practice of detecting vulnerabilities earlier in the development lifecycle. This becomes more critical as we depend on AI to develop code, with the potential to introduce serious vulnerabilities if the technology is not implemented correctly. According to Snyk’s 2024 Open Source Security Report, the industry is at a crossroads, facing mounting security challenges that include diminished engagement in security practices, immature open source supply chain security practices, and a blind trust in AI-generated code.

Thankfully, supply chain security has also demonstrated consistent growth in the distribution of security tooling across the entire software development process. Most notably, pre-commit and build system security checks have seen a significant year-over-year increase (11.6% and 15.9%, respectively), reinforcing their critical role in identifying risks before they cause much bigger issues.

The growth of pre-commit and build system security

Developers are increasingly embedding security checks into pre-commit workflows and build systems, and for good reason. By integrating security measures earlier in the development journey, dev teams can avoid the need for costly and complex remediation. Vulnerabilities discovered later down the line could require extensive patches, emergency responses, or sometimes even damage control for compromised systems.

Pre-commit security checks act instead as a frontline defence, ensuring potential threats are addressed before code is committed. Similarly, robust build system security enhances supply chain integrity by verifying dependencies, automating vulnerability scans, and enforcing security policies within the build process. This is especially critical in AI workflows, where unchecked open source dependencies used for data pre-processing, model training, or inferencing can create security blind spots.

Implementing shift-left security effectively

To maximise the benefits of early vulnerability detection, organisations must ensure that pre-commit and build security measures are automated and seamless. Developers should not have to manually trigger security scans. Instead, automated checks integrated into pre-commit hooks and build pipelines ensure consistent enforcement without disrupting workflows.

It’s vital that security tools are comprehensive and context-aware. Tools should provide meaningful insights, helping developers to understand and solve issues without unnecessary friction or increasing cognitive load. This remains crucial for successful DevSecOps strategies and for AI teams navigating complex dependencies across data science and engineering. The report notes AI development is increasingly dependent on open source tools and libraries, which makes securing these dependencies non-negotiable.

Of course, shifting left also requires more than just tools; it requires cultural change within organisations. Building empathy and common goals among development, operations and security teams fosters collaboration and shared responsibility, helping businesses to work together more cohesively – and therefore more securely.

Security measures should be continuously updated. Given the dynamic nature of open-source vulnerabilities, pre-commit and build system security needs to rely on continuously updated databases and intelligence feeds.

Integrating security throughout the development process

Beyond pre-commit and build security, the steady growth in security integration across code repositories (up 10.3%), CI/CD pipelines (up 6.3%), and CLI security tools (up 5.8%) underscores the importance of securing every stage of the development process.

By embedding security measures directly within repositories, for example, organisations can enforce policies such as branch protection, commit signing, and automated vulnerability scanning. These proactive measures help detect potential security flaws, outdated dependencies, and misconfigurations before code is merged, reducing the risk of vulnerabilities making their way into production. For AI, this means securing everything from model configuration files to training scripts and data ingestion logic.

Meanwhile, CI/CD pipelines help developers automate testing, deployment, and infrastructure provisioning, providing a critical point for embedded security checks. CI/CD workflows enable teams to conduct automated security testing, such as Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Software Composition Analysis (SCA), and container scanning, once again ensuring vulnerabilities are identified and fixed as soon as possible.

Finally, command-line interfaces provided by CLI security tools remain a preferred environment for many developers, and integrating security tools within CLI workflows ensures security checks become a natural part of development. Security should naturally be accessible, developer-friendly and seamlessly integrated into existing workflows, and CLI tools make a big difference.

The road ahead

The increasing adoption of pre-commit and build system security measures as the software industry shifts left remains a promising sign of proactive risk management.

Organisations that invest in early detection mechanisms will not only strengthen their security but also drive greater efficiency and resilience in software development itself. For AI in particular, where trust and reliability are vital, securing the open source supply chain from the start is critical. By embedding security checks where they matter most – before vulnerabilities can take hold – teams can ensure that shift left is done right.