Open-Source & Cyber Resilience Act - Differing opinions aside

The European Union's Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) will introduce a new regulatory framework for products with digital elements, affecting software development, including open-source projects. The CRA's requirements will have significant implications for open-source projects, and a proactive approach is necessary to understand its requirements. To assess the CRA's impact, a practical evaluation was conducted on an open-source project, es6-fuzz, a small JavaScript library. The project was found to have critical security and maintenance deficiencies, including outdated dependencies and lack of security management processes. The project lacks a vulnerability disclosure policy, support or maintenance lifecycle statement, and does not meet modern security standards. To remediate these issues, the project needs to modernize its platform, implement a formal vulnerability management process, improve documentation, and generate a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM). Automated security tooling will also be integrated to ensure ongoing security practices. The CRA's requirements can be seen as an opportunity for open-source projects to improve their security posture and align with modern security standards. By taking a proactive approach, open-source projects can learn to navigate the new regulatory landscape and avoid unnecessary risks.