Automating Security-by-Design in Microservices via Model-Driven DevSecOps

Microservices architectures are increasingly adopted for distributed application development, but their dynamic and heterogeneous nature introduces security challenges that are difficult to address with traditional Secure Development Lifecycle methods. This work presents an automated and model-driven methodology for the secure design of microservices-based applications, combining the MetaSEnD metamodel with a DevSecOps-oriented workflow. Starting from declarative specifications (e.g., Docker compose files), the approach generates a Multi-purpose Application Composition Model (MACM) that represents the structure and interactions of the application. Automated graph-based pattern matching is then used to identify architectural vulnerabilities and derive a threat model, which guides the generation of customized DevSecOps pipelines with security tools integrated into the CI/CD cycle. The methodology was validated on a real use case, showing how risk identification and security testing activities can be systematically derived from the application model and embedded into the development lifecycle. By automating these activities and integrating them into CI/CD pipelines, the approach can help reduce release latency associated with manual security assessment, while supporting security-by-design in cloud-native environments through a stronger connection between architectural modeling, threat analysis, and automated security validation.