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OWASP Dependency-Check scanner reference for STO

You can scan your code repositories and ingest results from OWASP Dependency-Check, an SCA tool for detecting publicly disclosed vulnerabilities contained within a project’s dependencies.

Important notes for running OWASP 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:

OWASP step configuration​

The recommended workflow is to add an OWASP step to a Security Tests or CI Build stage and then configure it as described below.

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​

  • Repository Scan a codebase repo.

    In most cases, you specify the codebase using a code repo connector that connects to the Git account or repository where your code is stored. For information, go to Configure codebase.

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.

Workspace​

The workspace path on the pod running the scan step. The workspace path is /harness by default.

You can override this if you want to scan only a subset of the workspace. For example, suppose the pipeline publishes artifacts to a subfolder /tmp/artifacts and you want to scan these artifacts only. In this case, you can specify the workspace path as /harness/tmp/artifacts.

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

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.

You can use this field to run the dependency-check scanner with specific command-line arguments. For example, you can scan a specific path using the --scan argument: tool_args = --scan ‘directory/**/*.jar’

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 OWASP scans in STO (legacy)​

You can set up OWASP scans using a Security step: create a CI Build or Security Tests stage, add a Security step, and then add the setting:value pairs as specified below.

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.

OWASP Dependency Check scan settings​

  • product_name = owasp
  • scan_type = repository
  • policy_type = orchestratedScan or ingestionOnly
  • product_config_name = default
  • fail_on_severity - See Fail on Severity.
  • tool_args — You can use this field to run the dependency-check scanner with specific command-line arguments. For example, you can scan a specific path using the --scan argument: tool_args = --scan ‘directory/**/*.jar’

Orchestration scan settings​

The following settings are required for Security steps where the policy_type is orchestratedScan.

  • product_domain Domain of the application instance to scan. You can include the full path to the app in this field, or split the full path between the Domain and the Path fields. Example: https://myapp.io/portal/us

  • product_access_token The access token used to log in to a specific product in the scanner. This is required for some scans. 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.

For a complete workflow description and example, go to Run an Orchestration Scan in an STO Pipeline.

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