Open source software is a reality of modern computing, and there really isn’t a space where it doesn’t touch at least some aspect of an IT stack. Even the most locked-down software will include libraries and utilities that rose from an open-source project built by well-meaning developers to solve everyday problems.

The challenge is that while OSS provides numerous benefits, it also creates attack surfaces that organizations can’t control.

That reality came back into sharp focus with the recent disclosure of the MongoBleed vulnerability, which affects MongoDB deployments. While the technical details of MongoBleed are concerning in themselves, the broader issue is not specific to MongoDB. It is about the structural security and compliance challenges that arise when open-source software becomes mission-critical infrastructure.