git.stella-ops.org/docs/product-advisories/23-Dec-2026 - Implementation Summary - Competitor Gap Closure.md

Implementation Summary: Competitor Scanner UI Gap Closure

Date: 2025-12-23 Status: Planning Complete, Implementation Ready Related Advisory: 23-Dec-2026 - Competitor Scanner UI Breakdown.md

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Executive Summary

This document summarizes the comprehensive planning and design work completed to close competitive gaps identified in the "Competitor Scanner UI Breakdown" advisory. We've created 5 sprint plans, 2 JSON schemas, and 2 comprehensive documentation guides that establish Stella Ops differentiators against Snyk Container, Anchore Enterprise, and Prisma Cloud.

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Gap Analysis Results

Gaps Identified Against src/**/*.md

Feature	Advisory Source	Stella Ops Status	Priority	Artifacts Created
Signed Delta-Verdicts	N/A (differentiator)	Foundation exists, integration missing	HIGH	Sprint, Schema, Docs
Replayable Evidence Packs	N/A (differentiator)	Primitives exist, bundle missing	HIGH	Sprint, Schema, Docs
Reachability Proof Panels	N/A (differentiator)	Backend exists, UI missing	MEDIUM	Sprint
UI Vulnerability Annotation	Anchore Enterprise	API exists, UI workflow missing	MEDIUM	Sprint
Base Image Detection/Recs	Snyk Container	Missing	MEDIUM	Sprint
Admin Audit Trail UI	Prisma Cloud	Partial (decisions only)	LOW	Deferred

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Deliverables Created

Sprint Plans (5 Total)

Sprint ID	Title	Priority	Components	Status
SPRINT_3000_0100_0001	Signed Delta-Verdicts	HIGH	Policy Engine, Attestor, Evidence Locker	Planning
SPRINT_3000_0100_0002	Replayable Evidence Packs	HIGH	Evidence Locker, Policy Engine, Replay	Planning
SPRINT_4000_0100_0001	Reachability Proof Panels UI	MEDIUM	Web (Angular), Policy APIs	Planning
SPRINT_4000_0100_0002	UI-Driven Vulnerability Annotation	MEDIUM	Web, Findings Ledger, Excititor	Planning
SPRINT_3000_0100_0003	Base Image Detection & Recommendations	MEDIUM	Scanner, Policy Engine	Planning

Location: docs/implplan/SPRINT_3000_0100_*.md, docs/implplan/SPRINT_4000_0100_*.md

JSON Schemas (2 Total)

Schema	URI	Purpose	Status
Policy Verdict Predicate	https://stellaops.dev/predicates/policy-verdict@v1	DSSE predicate for signed verdicts	Complete
Evidence Pack Manifest	https://stellaops.dev/evidence-pack@v1	Replayable bundle manifest	Complete

Location: docs/schemas/stellaops-policy-verdict.v1.schema.json, docs/schemas/stellaops-evidence-pack.v1.schema.json

Documentation (2 Comprehensive Guides)

Document	Scope	Status
Policy Verdict Attestations	API, CLI, implementation guide, troubleshooting	Complete
Evidence Pack Schema	Pack format, replay workflow, air-gap transfer	Complete

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Competitive Differentiation Matrix

Stella Ops vs Competitors

Feature	Snyk	Anchore	Prisma	Stella Ops
Signed Verdicts	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	✅ DSSE-wrapped, Rekor-anchored
Evidence Packs	❌ Separate exports	❌ Separate exports	❌ Separate exports	✅ Single signed bundle
Replayable Policy	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Deterministic re-evaluation
Proof Visualization	ℹ️ Basic	ℹ️ Basic	ℹ️ Basic	✅ Cryptographic verification UI
VEX Auto-Generation	❌ Manual	⚠️ UI annotation	❌ Manual	✅ Smart-Diff auto-emit + approval
Base Image Detection	✅ Yes	❌ No	⚠️ Limited	🚧 Planned (Sprint 3000_0100_0003)
Custom Base Recs	✅ Yes	❌ No	❌ No	🚧 Policy-driven from internal registry
Admin Audit Trail	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	✅ Yes	⚠️ Decisions only (future enhancement)
Offline Support	❌ Cloud-only	⚠️ Limited	❌ Cloud-only	✅ Air-gap first

Legend:

• ✅ Full support
• ⚠️ Partial support
• ℹ️ Basic/limited
• ❌ Not supported
• 🚧 Planned/in progress

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Architecture Overview

Signed Delta-Verdicts Flow

Policy Engine Evaluation
    ↓
PolicyExplainTrace (per finding)
    ↓
VerdictPredicateBuilder
    ↓
VerdictAttestation Request → Attestor Service
    ↓
DSSE Signing + Optional Rekor Anchoring
    ↓
Evidence Locker Storage (PostgreSQL + Object Store)
    ↓
API: GET /api/v1/verdicts/{verdictId}

Key Differentiators:

• Cryptographic Binding: Each verdict cryptographically signed, tamper-evident
• Granular Attestations: One attestation per finding (not batch)
• Transparency Option: Rekor anchoring for public auditability
• Offline Verification: Signature verification without network

Replayable Evidence Packs Flow

Policy Run Completion
    ↓
Pack Assembly Trigger
    ↓
Collect: Policy + SBOMs + Advisories + VEX + Verdicts + Reachability
    ↓
Generate Manifest (content index + determinism hash)
    ↓
Sign Manifest (DSSE)
    ↓
Compress to Tarball (.tar.gz)
    ↓
Store in Object Store + Index in PostgreSQL
    ↓
Download → Transfer → Replay on Any Environment

Key Differentiators:

• Complete Context: Single bundle contains all evaluation inputs
• Deterministic Replay: Bit-for-bit reproducible verdicts
• Queryable Offline: Inspect without external APIs
• Air-Gap Transfer: Sign once, verify anywhere

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Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: HIGH Priority (Weeks 1-4)

SPRINT_3000_0100_0001 — Signed Delta-Verdicts

Week 1-2:

• Implement VerdictPredicateBuilder in Policy Engine
• Wire Policy Engine → Attestor integration
• Implement VerdictAttestationHandler in Attestor
• Evidence Locker storage schema + API endpoints

Week 3-4:

• CLI commands (stella verdict get/verify/list)
• Integration tests (Policy Run → Verdict Attestation → Retrieval → Verification)
• Rekor anchoring integration (optional)
• Documentation finalization

SPRINT_3000_0100_0002 — Replayable Evidence Packs

Week 1-2:

• Implement EvidencePackAssembler in Evidence Locker
• Pack assembly workflow (collect artifacts, generate manifest, sign, compress)
• Pack storage (object store + PostgreSQL index)
• API endpoints (POST /runs/{id}/evidence-pack, GET /packs/{id}, etc.)

Week 3-4:

• Implement ReplayService in Policy Engine
• Replay workflow (extract → deserialize → re-evaluate → compare)
• CLI commands (stella pack create/download/inspect/verify/replay)
• Integration tests (determinism validation, air-gap transfer)

Success Metrics:

• ✅ Every policy run produces signed verdicts
• ✅ Evidence packs replay with 100% determinism
• ✅ CLI can verify signatures offline
• ✅ API endpoints documented and tested

Phase 2: MEDIUM Priority (Weeks 5-8)

SPRINT_4000_0100_0001 — Reachability Proof Panels UI

Dependencies: SPRINT_3000_0100_0001 (verdict attestation API)

• Design UI mockups for proof panel
• Implement VerdictProofPanelComponent (Angular)
• Integrate with verdict API + signature verification
• Render evidence chain (advisory → SBOM → VEX → reachability → verdict)
• Storybook stories + E2E tests

SPRINT_4000_0100_0002 — UI-Driven Vulnerability Annotation

• Define vulnerability state machine in Findings Ledger
• Implement triage dashboard UI (Angular)
• VEX candidate review/approval workflow
• API: PATCH /findings/{id}/state, POST /vex-candidates/{id}/approve
• E2E tests for annotation workflow

SPRINT_3000_0100_0003 — Base Image Detection & Recommendations

• Create StellaOps.Scanner.BaseImage library
• Implement Dockerfile parser + OCI manifest analyzer
• Build approved image registry schema
• Recommendation engine logic
• API endpoints + CLI commands

Success Metrics:

• ✅ Proof panel visualizes verdict evidence chain
• ✅ Triage dashboard enables UI-driven VEX approval
• ✅ Base image recommendations from internal registry

Phase 3: Enhancements (Weeks 9+)

• Admin audit trail UI (comprehensive activity logging)
• Pack retention policies + automated archiving
• Batch verdict signing optimization
• Evidence pack incremental updates
• Policy replay diff visualization

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Technical Specifications

Verdict Attestation Predicate

Type: https://stellaops.dev/predicates/policy-verdict@v1

Key Fields:

• verdict.status: passed | warned | blocked | quieted | ignored
• ruleChain: Ordered policy rule execution trace
• evidence: Advisory, VEX, reachability, SBOM evidence with digests
• reachability.status: confirmed | likely | present | unreachable | unknown
• metadata.determinismHash: SHA256 of verdict computation

Signing: DSSE envelope, Ed25519/ECDSA/RSA-PSS

Storage: PostgreSQL (verdict_attestations table) + optional Rekor

Evidence Pack Manifest

Type: https://stellaops.dev/evidence-pack@v1

Structure:

• contents.policy: Policy definition + run metadata
• contents.sbom: SPDX/CycloneDX SBOMs
• contents.advisories: Timestamped CVE snapshots
• contents.vex: OpenVEX statements
• contents.verdicts: DSSE-wrapped verdict attestations
• contents.reachability: Drift + slice analysis

Determinism: determinismHash = SHA256(sorted content digests)

Signing: Manifest signature covers all content digests

Format: Compressed tarball (.tar.gz)

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API Summary

Verdict Attestation APIs

Method	Endpoint	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/verdicts/{verdictId}	Retrieve verdict attestation (DSSE envelope)
GET	/api/v1/runs/{runId}/verdicts	List verdicts for policy run (filters: status, severity)
POST	/api/v1/verdicts/{verdictId}/verify	Verify signature + optional Rekor inclusion proof

Evidence Pack APIs

Method	Endpoint	Purpose
POST	/api/v1/runs/{runId}/evidence-pack	Create evidence pack for policy run
GET	/api/v1/evidence-packs/{packId}	Download pack tarball
GET	/api/v1/evidence-packs/{packId}/manifest	Inspect manifest (no download)
POST	/api/v1/evidence-packs/{packId}/replay	Replay policy evaluation from pack
POST	/api/v1/evidence-packs/{packId}/verify	Verify pack signature + content integrity

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CLI Summary

Verdict Commands

stella verdict get <verdictId>                          # Retrieve verdict
stella verdict verify <verdict.json> --public-key <key> # Verify signature (offline)
stella verdict list --run <runId> --status blocked      # List verdicts for run
stella verdict download <verdictId> --output <file>     # Download DSSE envelope

Evidence Pack Commands

stella pack create <runId>                              # Create pack
stella pack download <packId> --output <file>           # Download pack tarball
stella pack inspect <pack.tar.gz>                       # Display manifest + stats
stella pack list <pack.tar.gz>                          # List all files in pack
stella pack export <pack.tar.gz> --artifact <path>      # Extract single artifact
stella pack verify <pack.tar.gz>                        # Verify signature + integrity
stella pack replay <pack.tar.gz>                        # Replay policy evaluation

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Testing Strategy

Unit Tests

• Verdict predicate builder (canonical JSON, determinism)
• Evidence pack assembler (manifest generation, determinism hash)
• Replay service (deserialization, comparison logic)
• Schema validation (JSON schema compliance)

Integration Tests

• End-to-end: Policy Run → Verdict Attestation → Storage → Retrieval → Verification
• End-to-end: Pack Assembly → Storage → Download → Replay → Determinism Validation
• Cross-environment: Create pack on env A, replay on env B (air-gap scenario)
• Signature verification (offline, no network)

Performance Tests

• Verdict attestation throughput (1M verdicts/hour target)
• Pack assembly time (< 2min for 10K findings)
• Replay time (< 60s for 10K verdicts)
• Storage scaling (100K packs, query performance)

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Security Considerations

Cryptographic Guarantees

• Verdict Attestations: DSSE-signed, tamper-evident, optional Rekor transparency
• Evidence Packs: Manifest signature, per-file digests, determinism hash
• Key Management: KMS, CryptoPro (GOST), offline signing ceremonies
• Verification: Offline-capable, no network required

Access Control

• RBAC Scopes:

  • policy:verdict:read — View verdict attestations
  • policy:pack:create — Create evidence packs
  • policy:pack:read — Download evidence packs
  • policy:replay — Replay policy evaluations

• Tenant Isolation: All artifacts scoped by tenantId, cross-tenant queries blocked

Audit Trail

• All verdict retrievals logged with actor, timestamp, tenant
• Pack creation/download/replay logged for compliance
• Signature verification failures alerted

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Determinism Validation

Verdict Determinism

Inputs:

• Policy definition (P-7 v4)
• SBOM (sbom:S-42)
• Advisory snapshot (at cursor timestamp)
• VEX snapshot (at cursor timestamp)
• Environment context

Output: Verdict with determinismHash = SHA256(sorted evidence digests)

Validation: Re-evaluate with identical inputs → same determinismHash

Pack Replay Determinism

Inputs: Evidence pack manifest (all artifacts bundled)

Output: Replay verdicts

Validation: Compare replay verdicts to original verdicts:

• Count match: 234 original, 234 replay ✓
• Status match: All verdicts have identical status ✓
• Hash match: All determinismHash values identical ✓

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Next Steps

Immediate Actions (This Week)

1. Review & Approve: Technical designs for SPRINT_3000_0100_0001 and SPRINT_3000_0100_0002
2. Kickoff: SPRINT_3000_0100_0001 (Signed Delta-Verdicts) implementation
3. Code Generation: Create C# models from JSON schemas
4. Database Migrations: Prepare PostgreSQL schema for verdict_attestations and evidence_packs tables

Week 1 Milestones

• VerdictPredicateBuilder implemented with unit tests
• Policy Engine → Attestor integration wired (feature-flagged)
• VerdictAttestationHandler accepts and signs predicates
• Evidence Locker storage + API endpoints (basic CRUD)

Month 1 Goal

• ✅ Every policy run produces signed verdict attestations
• ✅ CLI can retrieve and verify verdicts offline
• ✅ Evidence packs can be created for policy runs
• ✅ Integration tests pass with 100% determinism

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Success Metrics

Adoption Metrics

• Verdict Attestations: 100% of policy runs emit signed verdicts
• Evidence Pack Usage: 10+ packs created per day per tenant
• Replay Success Rate: 99%+ determinism verification

Performance Metrics

• Verdict Attestation Latency: < 100ms per verdict
• Pack Assembly Time: < 2min for 10K findings
• Replay Time: < 60s for 10K verdicts
• API Latency: p95 < 500ms for verdict/pack retrieval

Quality Metrics

• Test Coverage: > 90% for attestation + pack code
• Schema Compliance: 100% of artifacts validate against JSON schemas
• Determinism Rate: 100% replay verdicts match original

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References

• Sprint Plans: docs/implplan/SPRINT_3000_0100_*.md, docs/implplan/SPRINT_4000_0100_*.md
• Schemas: docs/schemas/stellaops-policy-verdict.v1.schema.json, docs/schemas/stellaops-evidence-pack.v1.schema.json
• Documentation: docs/policy/verdict-attestations.md, docs/evidence-locker/evidence-pack-schema.md
• Advisory: docs/product-advisories/23-Dec-2026 - Competitor Scanner UI Breakdown.md