OpenSSF Scorecard helps you assess observable security practices in open-source projects, including risks that may matter before a known CVE is reported. It checks project and build practices as well as known vulnerabilities, then reports per-check scores, risk levels, and an aggregate score. Treat those results as useful signals for investigation and improvement—not as a prediction of undiscovered flaws or proof that a package is safe.
What OpenSSF Scorecard assesses
OpenSSF Scorecard is an automated assessment tool for open-source projects. It checks practices across source code, builds, dependency handling, testing, and project maintenance. Its Vulnerabilities check uses OSV to identify unfixed known vulnerabilities, while other checks examine safeguards in development and release workflows.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
That broader scope is why Scorecard can inform a package review even when you have no known CVE to cite. For example, code review, dependency pinning, workflow token permissions, and signed releases are practices relevant to supply-chain risk. Their results do not establish that a project has an undiscovered vulnerability, nor do they show that every threat has been detected.
How to read a Scorecard result
Per-check scores and risk levels
The official Scorecard overview says each automated check returns a score out of 10 and a risk level. Checks also provide remediation prompts. Read the individual result and its evidence: a low score points to a practice worth examining, while the risk label helps indicate its stated importance within Scorecard.
#1 Best Overall
- Compact and Efficient Design: The FortiGate 40F is designed for small to mid-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices, featuring a compact, fanless desktop form factor that ensures quiet operation and minimizes space usage.
- Robust Connectivity Options: Equipped with 5 GE RJ45 ports, including 1 WAN port and 4 internal ports, this model provides essential connectivity and flexibility for various network configurations in a small-scale environment.
- High-Performance Security: Offers up to 1 Gbps IPS throughput and 600 Mbps threat protection throughput, using Fortinet’s purpose-built security processor technology to deliver industry-leading performance and protection for SSL encrypted traffic.
- Advanced Threat Protection: Integrated with Fortinet’s AI-powered FortiGuard Labs, the FortiGate 40F offers comprehensive cybersecurity, identifying and mitigating both known and unknown threats to maintain robust security across your network.
- Simplified Management and Deployment: Features a user-friendly management console that provides comprehensive network automation and visibility, coupled with Zero Touch Integration with Fortinet’s Security Fabric for easy deployment.
The aggregate score
Scorecard weights results by risk level when calculating its aggregate score. The project describes that combined figure as a sense of a project’s overall security posture. It is not a probability of compromise, a pass/fail certification, or proof of safety. A single number also cannot tell you whether a particular finding matters to your deployment; interpret it alongside the check-level evidence and your own context.
What the checks cover
The overview describes 18 checks across three themes. The examples below reflect the checks listed on that page; the live documentation is the place to verify the current inventory because checks can change.
Holistic security practices
- Unfixed vulnerabilities, using OSV
- Dependency update tooling and project maintenance
- Security policy and license
- OpenSSF Best Practices badge
- CI tests, fuzzing, and static analysis (SAST)
Source risk assessment
- Checked-in binary artifacts
- Branch protection and code review
- Dangerous GitHub Actions workflows
- Contributors from multiple organizations
Build risk assessment
- Pinned dependencies
- Workflow token permissions
- Package publication through CI/CD
- Signed releases
The overview assigns risk labels from low to critical. It marks dangerous workflows critical, several source-control and build controls high, and other checks medium or low. These labels are Scorecard’s classifications, not a universal measure of severity for every project or deployment.
Rank #2
- HARDWARE PLUS SECURITY SERVICES: FortiGate-60F Firewall Appliance bundled with 1 year of FortiCare Premium and FortiGuard Unified Threat Protection.
- UNIFIED THREAT PROTECTION (UTP): Secures against advanced online threats with comprehensive web filtering and anti-botnet technologies.
- OPTIMIZED FOR MEDIUM-SIZED BUSINESSES: Tailored for businesses needing robust security without the infrastructure of larger enterprises.
- RELIABLE CUSTOMER SUPPORT: FortiCare Premium ensures high-quality support and service continuity.
- EFFECTIVE PROTECTION: Employs advanced filtering technologies to safeguard against sophisticated threats.
Run Scorecard as a maintainer or package consumer
If you maintain the repository
The project provides a GitHub Action for repositories you own or administer. Maintainers can use findings as an improvement plan or a pre-launch check. Organizations can integrate the action into CI/CD and run it on pull requests, as described by the overview.
If you are evaluating someone else’s dependency
You can use the Scorecard CLI to assess another project, select checks, and control result detail. The overview’s quick start specifies a GitHub personal access token with public_repo scope. Follow the official installation instructions for current setup, version, and authentication details.
Use the output to guide a dependency decision, not make it automatically. Check which practices were assessed, inspect the evidence behind relevant findings, and consider how the project’s release process and your own use affect the risk.
Rank #3
- 【Up to 1100 Mbps VPN Speed 】 Hardware-accelerated WireGuard and OpenVPN-DCO deliver up to 1100 Mbps VPN throughput, over 3× faster than Brume 2 for smooth remote access and file transfers.
- 【Three 2.5G Ports & Multi-WAN】Tri-port 2.5GbE design with flexible WAN LAN configuration supports multi-gigabit wired setups, dual-ISP Multi-WAN and failover to keep home and SOHO networks online.
- 【Stealth VPN Obfuscation】VPN obfuscation disguises VPN traffic as regular HTTPS, helping you evade blocking, bypass restrictive networks and maintain stable, private connections.
- 【DPI protection】Deep Packet Inspection with visual dashboards blocks adult/gambling/malicious sites, while SQM and QoS prioritize gaming, calls, and video when bandwidth is tight
- 【OpenWrt & USB 3.0 Expansion】OpenWrt with 1GB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC lets you install plugins and build VPN, ad-blocking or NAS, while USB 3.0 Type‑C connects high-speed storage or 4G/5G dongles
A practical way to evaluate a package
- Review the individual checks. Note the specific finding and its evidence rather than relying on the aggregate score alone.
- Consider the risk label and your use. A weakness in a release or workflow control may matter differently depending on how you consume and deploy the package.
- Check recency and coverage. Establish what the result covers and whether the data is recent enough for your decision.
- Look for a concrete remedy. Use Scorecard’s remediation prompts to see whether the finding suggests an actionable improvement.
- Make the decision in context. Treat the result as one input alongside your requirements and assessment of the dependency, not a stand-alone assurance.
What published figures do—and do not—tell you
The Scorecard overview attributes two prevalence estimates to Synopsys’s 2021 Open Source Security and Risk Analysis Report: 84% of codebases had at least one vulnerability, and the average was 158 vulnerabilities per codebase. The page also says most had been in code for more than two years and had documented solutions available. These are estimates quoted from that 2021 report, not measurements produced by Scorecard and not a current prevalence estimate.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
The overview also says public data can evaluate the security posture of over 1 million of the most used open-source projects, but the page does not attach a publication year to that figure. It should not be read as a dated count of currently covered projects. The overview supplies no Scorecard performance benchmark or independently validated accuracy rate.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
