Secure CI/CD Pipeline System · Hacking Project

Deliver a production-representative CI/CD pipeline where every artifact is scanned, signed, attested, and provably built from trusted source before it can be deployed.

**The problem**
Modern software ships through automated CI/CD pipelines that are high-value targets: leaked build secrets, tampered artifacts, poisoned dependencies, and over-privileged runners let attackers inject code that inherits the pipeline's trust and reaches production. Most teams bolt security onto delivery as an afterthought, leaving gaps like unsigned artifacts, mutable image tags, and no provenance trail. The 2020s wave of supply-chain attacks (SolarWinds, Codecov, dependency confusion) proved these pipelines are now a primary intrusion vector.

**What you'll build**
Build a hardened, "secure-by-default" pipeline that embeds security gates at every stage: SAST/DAST/SCA scanning, secret detection, signed commits, ephemeral least-privilege runners, dependency pinning, artifact signing and SBOM generation, and admission control that blocks unsigned or unscanned images. Implement supply-chain integrity using Sigstore/cosign and in-toto/SLSA provenance attestations, enforced by an OPA/Kyverno policy gate before deploy.

**Objective** — Deliver a production-representative CI/CD pipeline where every artifact is scanned, signed, attested, and provably built from trusted source before it can be deployed.

**Expected outcome** — A working pipeline (GitHub Actions/GitLab CI) with integrated SAST/SCA/secret gates, cosign-signed images, an SBOM, SLSA provenance, and an OPA/Kyverno admission policy that demonstrably blocks a tampered or unsigned artifact.

**Difficulty** — Advanced — requires fluency across pipeline tooling, containers, cryptographic signing, and policy engines working together end-to-end.

**Primary category** — DevSecOps / CI-CD Security; Secondary = AppSec, Cloud Security, Software Supply-Chain Security

**Security domains** — Primary = DevSecOps; Secondary = Cloud Security, AppSec, Blue Team, GRC, Supply-Chain Security

**Technical focus** — Pipeline hardening, SAST, DAST, SCA/dependency scanning, secret scanning, container image scanning, artifact signing (cosign/Sigstore), SBOM (CycloneDX/SPDX), SLSA provenance, in-toto attestation, admission control (OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno), ephemeral runner isolation, shift-left security

**Core technologies** — Languages: YAML, Bash, Python, Go; Frameworks/Libraries: GitHub Actions/GitLab CI/Jenkins, in-toto, SLSA; Security Tools: Semgrep/SonarQube, Trivy/Grype, Snyk/OWASP Dependency-Check, Gitleaks/TruffleHog, cosign/Sigstore, OWASP ZAP, OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno; Cloud/Infra: Docker, Kubernetes, container registry (GHCR/ECR), Vault/secrets manager; AI/Data: optional ML-based anomaly scoring of build behavior; Databases: PostgreSQL/SQLite for scan-result history

**Where it's valued** — SaaS/software, fintech, healthcare, defense, any regulated org shipping software, cloud-native startups, platform engineering teams

**Careers it builds toward** — DevSecOps Engineer, Application Security Engineer, Platform/Site Reliability Engineer, Cloud Security Engineer, Supply-Chain Security Engineer

**Framework alignment**
• MITRE ATT&CK: Supply Chain Compromise T1195 (incl. T1195.002 Compromise Software Supply Chain), Unsecured Credentials T1552 (T1552.001 Credentials in Files, T1552.004 Private Keys), Implant Internal Image T1525, Additional Cloud Roles T1098.003, Exfiltration Over Web Service T1567 (build-secret theft)
• NIST CSF 2.0: Govern, Identify, Protect (primary), Detect
• OWASP: OWASP Top 10 A06 Vulnerable & Outdated Components, A08 Software & Data Integrity Failures, A05 Security Misconfiguration; OWASP Top 10 CI/CD Security Risks
• CIS Controls v8: 16 Application Software Security, 4 Secure Configuration, 2 Software Asset Inventory, 7 Continuous Vulnerability Management

**Innovation** — Improved Existing Solution — secure pipelines exist commercially, but a full SLSA-provenance + signing + policy-gate reference implementation is genuinely differentiating and portfolio-strong. Scores: Innovation 6/10, Startup 6/10, Enterprise-Readiness 8/10, Patent = No.