BEST-PRACTICE GUIDE
Secure Software Delivery Checklist
A release-readiness conversation for engineering and security teams.
Choose one application and its next release. Mark each item Ready, Partial, or Unknown. Record the evidence and the person who can resolve each open question.
What belongs in a secure software release checklist?
Review the release boundary, code and credentials, dependencies and build inputs, security decisions, deployment and rollback, and post-release vulnerability handling. For each item, record evidence and a decision owner so unresolved findings become actionable.
Prepared by Ellihan LLC for U.S. commercial and defense-aligned organizations. This worksheet is educational; use it to define questions and scope rather than as evidence of a completed assessment.
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01 / Define the release boundaries
Identify the application owner, sensitive data, exposed interfaces, and security requirements. Keep a short threat review with the release record.
Status: Ready / Partial / Unknown Evidence / owner: ____________________
02 / Protect code and credentials
Use reviewed changes and appropriate repository access. Keep secrets out of source code and build logs; document rotation and access ownership.
Status: Ready / Partial / Unknown Evidence / owner: ____________________
03 / Know what you ship
Inventory dependencies and build inputs. Review vulnerability findings, artifact integrity, and documented risk decisions before release.
Status: Ready / Partial / Unknown Evidence / owner: ____________________
04 / Make security checks actionable
Use appropriate code, dependency, and application tests in the delivery process. Agree which findings block a release and who can approve an exception.
Status: Ready / Partial / Unknown Evidence / owner: ____________________
05 / Prepare deployment and rollback
Separate environments, limit deployment permissions, and document rollback steps. Test those steps and retain the release evidence.
Status: Ready / Partial / Unknown Evidence / owner: ____________________
06 / Plan for vulnerabilities after launch
Name a vulnerability intake owner and response process. Track remediation, communicate with affected stakeholders, and review recurring root causes.
Status: Ready / Partial / Unknown Evidence / owner: ____________________
Educational checklist informed by the NIST SSDF. Tailor it to your application; it does not establish compliance or guarantee a secure release.