Rust Support in Socket

We're excited to announce that Socket now supports the Rust programming language and Cargo ecosystem! This has been one of our most requested features, and we're thrilled to finally deliver it to the Rust community.

We're rolling this out in two parts: everyone can start searching and exploring Rust packages on socket.dev today, while enterprise customers can contact us to enable our experimental SBOM generation and full supply chain protection for their Rust projects.

Tackling the Challenge of Crate Security#

Rust has quickly become the go-to language for systems programming, powering everything from operating systems and browsers to cloud infrastructure and embedded devices. Its memory safety guarantees have made it a favorite for security-critical applications.

But here's the thing: memory safety doesn't protect you from supply chain attacks. The Rust ecosystem faces unique security challenges that traditional tools often miss. Build scripts that execute during compilation can access your entire system. unsafe blocks bypass Rust's safety guarantees. And Foreign Function Interface (FFI) code introduces risks at language boundaries.

With almost 200,000 crates now available on crates.io, the days of manually reviewing your dependencies are long gone. That's where Socket comes in.

Securing Rust Dependencies from Supply Chain Risks#

While other tools focus on known CVEs, Socket takes a different approach. We detect zero-day threats, typosquatting attempts, crypto miners, backdoors, and other supply chain risks before they can cause damage.

Our AI-powered analysis has been specifically trained to understand Rust patterns and identify Rust-specific threats:

• Malicious build scripts that could compromise your build environment
• Suspicious unsafe code patterns that might hide malicious behavior
• FFI boundary vulnerabilities where Rust interfaces with other languages
• Hidden telemetry, protestware, and other risky behaviors

This comprehensive approach gives you visibility into what your dependencies are actually doing, not just what vulnerabilities have been reported.

Getting Started with Socket's Rust Support#

Available Now: Package Search for Everyone

Starting today, you can search any Cargo package on socket.dev to view security scores, maintainer information, and dependency insights. It's free and available to everyone - no sign-up required.

Just head to socket.dev and start typing the name of any Rust crate. You'll instantly see our security analysis, helping you make informed decisions about which dependencies to trust.

Experimental: Enterprise SBOM Generation

For enterprise teams ready to add Socket's supply chain protection to their Rust projects, we're offering experimental SBOM generation and comprehensive security scanning.

During this experimental phase, you'll need to provide both Cargo.toml and Cargo.lock files. We support full Cargo workspaces with all their complexity - feature flags, conditional dependencies, and workspace inheritance all work as expected.

One important note: we currently only support packages from crates.io. Git dependencies or local path dependencies will show as errors in your SBOM since we need to analyze the actual package source.

To enable this for your organization, just reach out to our team and we'll get you set up.

Why Lock Files Are Required (For Now)#

You might wonder why we require lock files during this experimental phase. The answer is simple: accuracy. Cargo's dependency resolution is sophisticated, with feature flags, platform-specific dependencies, and workspace inheritance all affecting your final dependency tree. Lock files ensure we scan exactly what you're building, every time.

Don't worry though - Cargo.toml-only support is on our roadmap and coming soon.

What's Next#

This is just the beginning of our Rust journey. Here's what's coming:

• Support for Cargo.toml files without requiring lock files
• Enhanced workspace dependency resolution
• Even more Rust-specific threat detection patterns

We're committed to making Rust development as secure as possible, and your feedback helps shape our roadmap.

Get Started Today#

Ready to secure your Rust projects? Here's how:

• Everyone: Head to socket.dev and start searching Rust packages
• Enterprise customers: Contact our team to enable experimental SBOM generation for your projects

Join the growing community of developers and companies who trust Socket to protect their software supply chain. With Rust support now available, there's never been a better time to get started.

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