Automate security scanning, including container scanning and OWASP ZAP

As organizations increasingly adopt DevOps practices, it becomes crucial to integrate security measures into the development and deployment process. Automating security scanning allows teams to identify vulnerabilities and address them early in the development cycle. In this article, we will explore how to automate security scanning, including container scanning and the usage of OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) as a security testing tool.

Container Scanning in a DevOps Environment

Containers have gained popularity due to their lightweight and portable nature. However, they can also introduce security risks if not properly secured. Container scanning involves analyzing the container images for any known vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

There are various tools available for container scanning, such as Clair, Trivy, and Anchore. These tools can be integrated into the CI/CD pipeline to automatically scan container images before deployment. Let’s take a look at an example using Trivy, an open-source vulnerability scanner.

To integrate Trivy into your CI/CD pipeline, you can use a tool like Azure DevOps. Assuming you have a pipeline set up, you can add a new stage to perform container scanning. Here’s an example YAML snippet for the container scanning stage:

- stage: ContainerScanning
displayName: 'Container Scanning'
jobs:
- job: Scan
displayName: 'Scan container image'
pool:
vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
steps:
- task: trivytask@0
inputs:
image: ''


This snippet creates a new stage called “Container Scanning” and a job named “Scan.” The Trivy task is added to the job, which scans the specified container image for vulnerabilities.

OWASP ZAP as a Security Testing Tool

OWASP ZAP is a widely used open-source web application security scanner. It helps identify vulnerabilities and security issues in web applications. Integrating OWASP ZAP into your DevOps pipeline enables you to automate security testing during the development process.

To automate OWASP ZAP using Azure DevOps, you can leverage the OWASP ZAP Azure DevOps Extension. Here’s an example YAML snippet to demonstrate how to use OWASP ZAP in your pipeline:

- stage: SecurityTesting
displayName: 'Security Testing'
jobs:
- job: Scan
displayName: 'Run OWASP ZAP security scan'
pool:
vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
steps:
- task: OwaspZapScan@1
inputs:
targetUrl: ''
apiKey: ''
maxScanDuration: ''
failBuildOnError: true


In this snippet, a new stage called “Security Testing” is created, and a job named “Scan” is defined. The OwaspZapScan task is used to run the OWASP ZAP security scan on the specified web application.

By integrating container scanning and OWASP ZAP into your DevOps pipeline, you can achieve automated security scanning. This proactive approach allows you to catch vulnerabilities early in the development cycle and address them before deploying to production.

Conclusion

Automating security scanning is essential in a DevOps environment. Container scanning helps identify vulnerabilities in container images, while OWASP ZAP enables proactive security testing for web applications. By leveraging tools like Trivy and OWASP ZAP within your CI/CD pipeline, you can ensure that security is not compromised during the DevOps lifecycle. Stay secure and automate your security scanning today!