Skip to main content

Grype scanner reference for STO

You can scan container images using Grype.

For information about setting up Grype in an air-gapped environment, go to Set up Grype in air-gapped environments.

Important notes for running Grype scans in STO

Docker-in-Docker requirements

The following use cases require a Docker-in-Docker background step in your pipeline:

  • Container image scans on Kubernetes and Docker build infrastructures
  • Security steps (not step palettes) on Kubernetes and Docker build infrastructures
    • Required for all target types and Orchestration/DataLoad modes

The following use cases do not require Docker-in-Docker:

Set up a Docker-in-Docker background step
  1. Go to the stage where you want to run the scan.

  2. In Overview, add the shared path /var/run.

  3. In Execution, do the following:

    1. Click Add Step and then choose Background.

    2. Configure the Background step as follows:

      1. Dependency Name = dind

      2. Container Registry = The Docker connector to download the DinD image. If you don't have one defined, go to Docker connector settings reference.

      3. Image = docker:dind

      4. Under Entry Point, add the following: dockerd

        In most cases, using dockerd is a faster and more secure way to set up the background step. For more information, go to the TLS section in the Docker quick reference.

      If the DinD service doesn't start with dockerd, clear the Entry Point field and then run the pipeline again. This starts the service with the default entry point.

      1. Under Optional Configuration, select the Privileged checkbox.
Configure the background step

Root access requirements

You need to run the scan step with root access if either of the following apply:

note

You can set up your STO scan images and pipelines to run scans as non-root and establish trust for your own proxies using self-signed certificates. For more information, go to Configure STO to Download Images from a Private Registry.

For more information

The following topics contain useful information for setting up scanner integrations in STO:

Grype step settings for STO

The recommended workflow is add a Grype step to a Security Tests or CI Build stage and then configure it as described below. You can also configure Grype scans programmatically by copying, pasting, and editing the YAML definition.

Scan

Scan Mode

  • Orchestration Configure the step to run a scan and then ingest, normalize, and deduplicate the results.

Scan Configuration

The predefined configuration to use for the scan. All scan steps have at least one configuration.

Target

Type

  • Container Image Scan the layers, libraries, and packages in a container image.

Name

The identifier for the target, such as codebaseAlpha or jsmith/myalphaservice. Descriptive target names make it much easier to navigate your scan data in the STO UI.

It is good practice to specify a baseline for every target.

Variant

The identifier for the specific variant to scan. This is usually the branch name, image tag, or product version. Harness maintains a historical trend for each variant.

Ingestion File

The path to your scan results when running an Ingestion scan, for example /shared/scan_results/myscan.latest.sarif.

  • The data file must be in a supported format for the scanner.

  • The data file must be accessible to the scan step. It's good practice to save your results files to a shared path in your stage. In the visual editor, go to the stage where you're running the scan. Then go to Overview > Shared Paths. You can also add the path to the YAML stage definition like this:

        - stage:
    spec:
    sharedPaths:
    - /shared/scan_results

Container Image

Type

The registry type where the image is stored:

Domain

The URL of the artifact repository that contains the image to scan. Examples include:

  • docker.io
  • app.harness.io/registry
  • us-east1-docker.pkg.dev
  • us.gcr.io

Name

The image name. For non-local images, you also need to specify the image repository. Example: jsmith/myalphaservice

Tag

The image tag. Examples: latest, 1.2.3

Access Id

The username to log in to the container registry.

Access Token

The access token used to log in to the container registry. In most cases this is a password or an API key.

You should create a Harness text secret with your encrypted token and reference the secret using the format <+secrets.getValue("project.container-access-id")>. For more information, go to Add and Reference Text Secrets.

Log Level, CLI flags, and Fail on Severity

Log Level

The minimum severity of the messages you want to include in your scan logs. You can specify one of the following:

  • DEBUG
  • INFO
  • WARNING
  • ERROR

Additional CLI flags

You can use this field to customize the scan with specific command-line arguments supported by that scanner.

For example, you can report vulnerabilities with known fixes only using --only-fixed.

Fail on Severity

Every Security step has a Fail on Severity setting. If the scan finds any vulnerability with the specified severity level or higher, the pipeline fails automatically. You can specify one of the following:

  • CRITICAL
  • HIGH
  • MEDIUM
  • LOW
  • INFO
  • NONE — Do not fail on severity

The YAML definition looks like this: fail_on_severity : critical # | high | medium | low | info | none

Additional Configuration

In the Additional Configuration settings, you can use the following options:

Advanced settings

In the Advanced settings, you can use the following options:

Security step settings for Grype scans in STO (legacy)

note

You can set up Grype scans using a Security step, but this is a legacy functionality. Harness recommends that you use an Grype step instead.

Important Notes

Target and variant

The following settings are required for every Security step:

  • target_name A user-defined label for the code repository, container, application, or configuration to scan.
  • variant A user-defined label for the branch, tag, or other target variant to scan.
note

Make sure that you give unique, descriptive names for the target and variant. This makes navigating your scan results in the STO UI much easier.

You can see the target name, type, and variant in the Test Targets UI:

Target name, type, and branch

For more information, go to Targets, baselines, and variants in STO.

Grype scan Settings

  • product_name = grype
  • policy_type = orchestratedScan
  • scan_type = repository or container
  • product_config_name = default
  • container_domain — The image registry domain, for example docker.io
  • container_project — The image owner and project, for example harness/delegate
  • container_tag — The tag of the image to scan, for example latest
  • container_type — Set to local_imagedocker_v2jfrog_artifactory, or aws_ecr
  • fail_on_severity - See Fail on Severity.

Container scan settings

The following settings apply to all scanners where the scan_type is containerImage.

  • container_type
    • accepted value(s): local_image, docker_v2, jfrog_artifactory, aws_ecr
      • for container_type set to local
        • None
      • for container_type set to docker_v2
        • container_access_id: Username
        • container_access_token: Password/Token
      • for container_type set to jfrog_artifactory
        • container_access_id: Username
        • container_access_token: Password/Token
      • for container_type set to aws_ecr
        • container_access_id: Username
        • container_access_token: Password/Token
        • container_region: AWS default region
  • container_domain

Ingestion file

If the policy_type is ingestionOnly:

  • ingestion_file = The path to your scan results when running an Ingestion scan, for example /shared/scan_results/myscan.latest.sarif.
  • The data file must be in a supported format for the scanner.

  • The data file must be accessible to the scan step. It's good practice to save your results files to a shared path in your stage. In the visual editor, go to the stage where you're running the scan. Then go to Overview > Shared Paths. You can also add the path to the YAML stage definition like this:

        - stage:
    spec:
    sharedPaths:
    - /shared/scan_results