OSV consists of:

1. The OSV Schema: An easy-to-use data format that maps precisely to open source versioning schemes.
2. Reference infrastructure (this site, API, and tooling) that aggregates and indexes vulnerability data from databases that use the OSV schema.

We created OSV to address many of the shortcomings of dealing with vulnerabilities in open source software using existing solutions.

See our blog posts for more details:

1. https://security.googleblog.com/2021/02/launching-osv-better-vulnerability.html
2. https://security.googleblog.com/2021/06/announcing-unified-vulnerability-schema.html

OSV can be used by both:

1. Open source consumers: By querying our API and using our tooling to find known vulnerabilities in their dependencies.
2. Vulnerability database producers: By making the database available in the OSV format.

We found that there was no existing standard format which:

1. Enforces version specification that precisely matches naming and versioning schemes used in actual open source package ecosystems. For instance, matching a vulnerability such as a CVE to a package name and set of versions in a package manager is difficult to do in an automated way using existing mechanisms such as CPEs.
2. Can be used to describe vulnerabilities in any open source ecosystem, while not requiring ecosystem-dependent logic to process them.
3. Is easy to use by both automated systems and humans.

A unified format means that vulnerability databases, open source users, and security researchers can easily share tooling and consume vulnerabilities across all of open source. This means a more complete view of vulnerabilities in open source for everyone, as well as faster detection and remediation times resulting from easier automation.

The benefits of the OSV schema have led to adoption by several vulnerability databases, including GitHub Security Advisories, PyPA, RustSec, and many more. The full list of databases can be found here.

OSV provides an easy-to-use API for querying against the aggregated database of vulnerabilities.

Command line tooling is currently being developed to enable easy vulnerability scanning of SBOMs, language manifests, and container images. Stay tuned!

By making your vulnerability database available in the OSV format, open source users will have a consistent way to consume vulnerabilities across all open source ecosystems.

Vulnerability databases can also benefit from easier interchange and vulnerabiltiy sharing from other databases that use the OSV format.

OSV is completely open source!

1. The infrastructure code is available at https://github.com/google/osv
2. The OSV schema spec is available at https://github.com/ossf/osv-schema

If you have any questions, please feel free to create an issue in either repo!