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Commonly confused · Application & OT Security

SAST vs SCA: What's the Difference?

SAST scans your own first-party code for insecure coding patterns, while SCA inventories the third-party and open-source components your application depends on and flags known vulnerabilities and license issues.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Full definition
vs

Software Composition Analysis (SCA)

Full definition
Static Application Security TestingSoftware Composition Analysis
AnalyzesCode your team wroteLibraries, packages, dependencies
FindsInjection flaws, hard-coded secrets, unsafe functionsKnown CVEs, outdated versions, license risks
Data sourceRules and data-flow analysisVulnerability databases and package manifests
OutputCode-level findingsDependency inventory, often an SBOM
ExamplesSemgrep, CodeQL, SonarQubeDependabot, Snyk Open Source, OWASP Dependency-Check
Remember it

SAST checks what you wrote; SCA checks what you borrowed.

Exam tip

Supply chain and SBOM questions point to SCA. A question about Log4Shell exposure across your portfolio is an SCA use case.

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