[0:08] Shinobi: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Sushi Bytes – the AI-generated podcast where we serve up sharp insights on software supply chain integrity. I’m Shinobi, your Software Composition Analysis ninja.
Today’s episode: Snippet Detection – because sometimes, just six lines of reused code can land you in legal limbo. And joining me as always – brilliant, binary, and never afraid of a code fragment – Gen.
[0:34] Gen: Just six lines? Shinobi, that’s barely an appetizer!
[0:39] Shinobi: An appetizer with a side of GPL disclosure clause.
[0:42] Gen: Oof. OK, let’s talk about these little bits that cause big problems.
[0:47] Shinobi: Sure. Let’s start with defining our terms. A code snippet is a small fragment of code. It could be a big chunk or just a few lines copied from some existing third-party licensed software. It might come from:
- Stack Overflow
- An open source repo
- A blog post
- Or even, an AI coding assistant.
[1:06] Gen: oh! I resemble that last remark! But it’s true… snippets get copy-pasted all the time. But here’s the twist: Even short pieces of code can be copyrighted, and they can carry licensing baggage that goes completely unnoticed. It’s just smart and good practice to make sure you’re following the obligations of all borrowed code.
[1:24] Shinobi: Yeah, but a lot of software teams rely on basic dependency analysis tools or simple SCA software that only scans for full open source components – packages, modules, libraries – whatever you want to call them. They don’t catch incomplete, undeclared, or modified variations… what we call: code snippets.
[1:44] Gen: Which means that if someone copied 10 lines of GPL-licensed code into your proprietary codebase that was spit out by an AI coding tool. It just slipped under the radar. No flag. No attribution. No disclosure. But guess what? It still counts legally and ethically.
[2:03] Shinobi: Yep. And this is especially risky in situations like:
- Developing embedded systems where the software exists in a physical product that is shipped out
- And especially in Regulated industries
- But also, in any M&A scenarios where IP protection is key
[2:17] Gen: Absolutely! There have been real-world audits where a single copied function triggered the need to refactor and re-release code. Gary Armstrong from FossID has an interesting article on open source audit surprises.
[2:29] Shinobi: Yep, great article, indeed! Especially for all the software risk nerds out there. And the problem isn’t even the intent. It’s not like engineers are being malicious. It’s the lack of awareness. And in compliance, like Gary’s article points out, what you don’t know can hurt you.
[2:45] Gen: Yeah, unfortunately Snippet detection isn’t easy. Code is messy. And there’s tons of it to sift through. You can’t just match filenames or package hashes – you need to analyze actual code structure and patterns.
[2:57] Shinobi: You’re right Gen – it gets complicated and difficult to do at scale! FossID does this by using digital fingerprinting and a massive code knowledge base to find matches -even if the snippet was reformatted, renamed, or partially modified.
Jon Aldama, co-founder of FossID, gave us a cool demo showing how it can:
- Detect even tiny fragments
- Handle modified functions
- And even point out the exact location of nested snippets in proprietary code
[3:24] Gen: What’s really cool is how it literally highlights the snippet, but also tells you where it came from, what license it carries, and whether it’s high risk. Now that’s visibility and context you can work with.
[3:35] Shinobi: So, let’s wind this down. We know we’ve talked a lot about the risk. But what can you do? For starters, if you’re managing compliance, you can’t just scan for declared packages – no way. That’s not going to cut it with modern software engineering practices. You need to look at the code itself!
[3:51] Gen: For sure, here’s what we recommend:
- First, enable snippet detection in your SCA tool or find one that does it well
- Then, reduce the noise. Set policy thresholds for what kinds of snippets require attribution or removal
- And, shift-left. Let developers scan code right early so they don’t break the build
[4:12] Shinobi: Great list, Gen! The takeaway is simple: Small code fragments can have big consequences. If your SCA tool can’t detect snippets accurately and eliminate noise, it’s not showing you the full picture.
Thanks for listening to Sushi Bytes. Oh, and check out that article by Gary. You’ll find it at fossid.com/resources.
