CycloneDX PHP Composer Integration Guide

Integrate the CycloneDX PHP Composer plugin with Vulnetix. Generate a CycloneDX SBOM from your PHP Composer project and upload to Vulnetix.

Install & scan

$ composer require --dev cyclonedx/cyclonedx-php-composer
$ composer CycloneDX:make-sbom --output-format=JSON --output-file=bom.json

Run CycloneDX PHP Composer in CI

Scan on every push and upload the report as a workflow artifact:

- name: Install PHP dependencies
  run: composer install --no-dev

- name: Generate CycloneDX SBOM
  run: composer CycloneDX:make-sbom --omit=dev --output-format=JSON --output-file=bom.json

- name: Upload report
  uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
  with:
    name: cyclonedx-php
    path: bom.json
    if-no-files-found: warn

Then one publish job hands every artifact in the run to Vulnetix, recorded under CycloneDX PHP Composer's own name and version. Written once per workflow, however many scanners you run:

publish:
  name: Publish to Vulnetix
  runs-on: ubuntu-latest
  needs: [scan]        # every scanner job, or its report is never published
  if: always()         # or one failing scanner suppresses all the others
  permissions:
    contents: read
    actions: read      # required to list the run's artifacts
  env:
    VULNETIX_ORG_ID: ${{ secrets.VULNETIX_ORG_ID }}
    VULNETIX_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.VULNETIX_API_KEY }}
  steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v5
    - name: Install Vulnetix CLI
      run: |
        curl -fsSL https://cli.vulnetix.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --install-dir "$HOME/.local/bin"
        echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
    - name: Publish scanner reports
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
      run: vulnetix gha upload --org-id "$VULNETIX_ORG_ID" --json

After the run, vulnetix gha status reports what was actually recorded.

How Vulnetix compares: better together

Vulnetix does not replace CycloneDX PHP Composer. Keep running it. Vulnetix sits on top of CycloneDX PHP Composer (and every other scanner you already own) turning disconnected tool outputs into one prioritised, fixable queue.

CycloneDX PHP Composer is strongest at its core category and also carries features in License Compliance, SCA, just as Vulnetix spans categories.

✓ full · ~ partial · ✗ not covered

What CycloneDX PHP Composer does well

• Official CycloneDX generator for Composer-based PHP, described as one of the most accurate/complete SBOM tools for that ecosystem
• Widest CycloneDX spec-version range of the family: supports 1.1 through 1.7 (default 1.5) in both JSON and XML
• Prefers evidence from the actually-installed Composer setup over pure lockfile parsing, then falls back to composer.lock, capturing accurate direct + transitive dependencies
• Ships cdx:composer property taxonomy so downstream tools get PHP-specific component context

Where Vulnetix adds to it: Vulnetix ingests the CycloneDX SBOM this plugin generates (it already speaks 1.7) and adds everything the plugin does not: vulnerability + malware matching over the PHP dependency tree, cross-scanner dedup, EPSS/KEV/LEV exploit-intel prioritisation, reachability, versioned VEX + audit, EOL policy, SSVC and autofix. It also normalises to SPDX 2.3. Better together, the Composer plugin produces the accurate PHP inventory, Vulnetix makes it a prioritised, remediable risk queue.

No migration, no rip-and-replace. CycloneDX PHP Composer keeps doing what it does best; Vulnetix adds the orchestration, exploit-intelligence prioritisation and remediation layer built for the way AppSec works today.

Centralise CycloneDX PHP Composer results in Vulnetix

Upload CycloneDX PHP Composer CycloneDX output to the Vulnetix platform to deduplicate findings, prioritise them with EPSS, CISA KEV and Coalition ESS exploit intelligence, and track remediation across every scanner in a single queue.

CycloneDX PHP Composer documentation ↗  ·  Source repository ↗

Wire CycloneDX PHP Composer into your CI/CD pipeline →