Implementing DevSecOps Security Scanning

When to Use

• Setting up automated security scanning in a new or existing CI/CD pipeline
• Shifting security left by catching vulnerabilities before code reaches production
• Meeting compliance requirements (SOC 2, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001) that mandate automated security testing
• Integrating SAST, DAST, and SCA together to achieve comprehensive application security coverage
• Establishing security gates that block deployments containing critical or high-severity vulnerabilities

Do not use as a replacement for manual penetration testing. Automated scanning catches common vulnerability patterns but cannot replace human-driven security assessments for business logic flaws and complex attack chains.

Prerequisites

• CI/CD platform: GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps
• Container runtime (Docker) for running scanning tools
• A staging environment URL for DAST scanning (DAST cannot test static code)
• Repository access with permissions to modify CI/CD workflow files
• Tool-specific requirements:
  • Semgrep: free for open-source rulesets (p/security-audit, p/owasp-top-ten)
  • Trivy: free, no account required
  • OWASP ZAP: free, Docker image available
  • Gitleaks: free, no account required

Workflow

Step 1: Add Secrets Detection with Gitleaks

Secrets detection runs first because leaked credentials are the highest-priority finding. Add to .github/workflows/security.yml:

name: DevSecOps Security Pipeline
on:
  push:
    branches: [main, develop]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  secrets-scan:
    name: Secrets Detection (Gitleaks)
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # Full history for scanning all commits

      - name: Run Gitleaks
        uses: gitleaks/gitleaks-action@v2
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Configure .gitleaks.toml in the repository root for custom rules and allowlists:

[extend]
useDefault = true

[allowlist]
description = "Global allowlist"
paths = [
  '''\.gitleaks\.toml''',
  '''test/fixtures/.*''',
  '''docs/examples/.*'''
]

[[rules]]
id = "custom-internal-api-key"
description = "Internal API key pattern"
regex = '''INTERNAL_KEY_[A-Za-z0-9]{32}'''
tags = ["internal", "api-key"]

Step 2: Add SAST Scanning with Semgrep

Semgrep performs static code analysis to find security vulnerabilities, bugs, and code patterns:

  sast-scan:
    name: SAST (Semgrep)
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    container:
      image: semgrep/semgrep
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run Semgrep SAST scan
        run: |
          semgrep scan \
            --config p/security-audit \
            --config p/owasp-top-ten \
            --config p/secrets \
            --severity ERROR \
            --error \
            --json \
            --output semgrep-results.json \
            .

      - name: Upload SAST results
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: semgrep-results
          path: semgrep-results.json

For custom rules, create .semgrep/custom-rules.yml:

rules:
  - id: no-exec-user-input
    patterns:
      - pattern: exec($INPUT)
      - pattern-not: exec("...")
    message: >
      User input passed to exec(). This is a command injection vulnerability.
    severity: ERROR
    languages: [python]
    metadata:
      cwe: "CWE-78: OS Command Injection"
      owasp: "A03:2021 - Injection"

  - id: no-raw-sql-queries
    patterns:
      - pattern: cursor.execute(f"...")
      - pattern: cursor.execute("..." + ...)
    message: >
      SQL query built with string concatenation or f-strings. Use parameterized queries.
    severity: ERROR
    languages: [python]
    metadata:
      cwe: "CWE-89: SQL Injection"
      owasp: "A03:2021 - Injection"

Step 3: Add SCA Scanning with Trivy

Trivy scans dependencies, container images, IaC files, and generates SBOM:

  sca-scan:
    name: SCA & Container Scan (Trivy)
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run Trivy filesystem scan (dependencies)
        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.28.0
        with:
          scan-type: 'fs'
          scan-ref: '.'
          severity: 'CRITICAL,HIGH'
          exit-code: '1'
          format: 'json'
          output: 'trivy-fs-results.json'

      - name: Run Trivy IaC scan (Terraform, CloudFormation)
        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.28.0
        with:
          scan-type: 'config'
          scan-ref: '.'
          severity: 'CRITICAL,HIGH'
          exit-code: '1'
          format: 'json'
          output: 'trivy-iac-results.json'

      - name: Upload SCA results
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: trivy-results
          path: trivy-*.json

  container-scan:
    name: Container Image Scan (Trivy)
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [sast-scan]  # Build image only after SAST passes
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Build Docker image
        run: docker build -t app:${{ github.sha }} .

      - name: Scan container image
        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.28.0
        with:
          image-ref: 'app:${{ github.sha }}'
          severity: 'CRITICAL,HIGH'
          exit-code: '1'
          format: 'json'
          output: 'trivy-image-results.json'

      - name: Generate SBOM
        uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.28.0
        with:
          image-ref: 'app:${{ github.sha }}'
          format: 'cyclonedx'
          output: 'sbom.json'

      - name: Upload SBOM
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: sbom
          path: sbom.json

Step 4: Add DAST Scanning with OWASP ZAP

DAST runs against a deployed staging environment. It is slower than SAST/SCA and should run asynchronously or on a schedule:

  dast-scan:
    name: DAST (OWASP ZAP)
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [deploy-staging]  # Must run after app is deployed to staging
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run ZAP Baseline Scan (fast, suitable for CI)
        uses: zaproxy/action-baseline@v0.14.0
        with:
          target: ${{ vars.STAGING_URL }}
          rules_file_name: '.zap/rules.tsv'
          cmd_options: '-a -j'

      # For nightly full scans, use action-full-scan instead:
      # - name: Run ZAP Full Scan (comprehensive, 30-60 min)
      #   uses: zaproxy/action-full-scan@v0.12.0
      #   with:
      #     target: ${{ vars.STAGING_URL }}

Create .zap/rules.tsv to configure alert thresholds:

10010	IGNORE	(Cookie No HttpOnly Flag - acceptable for non-sensitive cookies)
10011	IGNORE	(Cookie Without Secure Flag - staging uses HTTP)
90033	WARN	(Loosely Scoped Cookie)
10038	FAIL	(Content Security Policy Header Not Set)
40012	FAIL	(Cross Site Scripting - Reflected)
40014	FAIL	(Cross Site Scripting - Persistent)
40018	FAIL	(SQL Injection)
90019	FAIL	(Server Side Code Injection)
90020	FAIL	(Remote OS Command Injection)

Step 5: Aggregate Results and Enforce Security Gates

Create a summary job that aggregates all scan results and enforces pass/fail gates:

  security-gate:
    name: Security Gate
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [secrets-scan, sast-scan, sca-scan, container-scan]
    if: always()
    steps:
      - name: Check scan results
        run: |
          echo "Checking security scan results..."

          # Fail the pipeline if any upstream job failed
          if [[ "${{ needs.secrets-scan.result }}" == "failure" ]]; then
            echo "BLOCKED: Secrets detected in repository"
            exit 1
          fi

          if [[ "${{ needs.sast-scan.result }}" == "failure" ]]; then
            echo "BLOCKED: SAST found critical/high vulnerabilities"
            exit 1
          fi

          if [[ "${{ needs.sca-scan.result }}" == "failure" ]]; then
            echo "BLOCKED: SCA found critical/high vulnerable dependencies"
            exit 1
          fi

          if [[ "${{ needs.container-scan.result }}" == "failure" ]]; then
            echo "BLOCKED: Container image has critical/high vulnerabilities"
            exit 1
          fi

          echo "All security gates passed"

Step 6: Configure Branch Protection Rules

Enforce the security pipeline as a required status check:

GitHub Repository > Settings > Branches > Branch Protection Rules

Branch name pattern: main
  Require status checks to pass before merging: Enabled
    Required status checks:
      - Secrets Detection (Gitleaks)
      - SAST (Semgrep)
      - SCA & Container Scan (Trivy)
      - Security Gate
  Require branches to be up to date before merging: Enabled

Step 7: Set Up Developer Feedback Loop

Configure pre-commit hooks so developers catch issues before pushing:

# .pre-commit-config.yaml
repos:
  - repo: https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks
    rev: v8.22.1
    hooks:
      - id: gitleaks

  - repo: https://github.com/semgrep/semgrep
    rev: v1.102.0
    hooks:
      - id: semgrep
        args: ['--config', 'p/security-audit', '--config', 'p/owasp-top-ten', '--error']

Install and activate pre-commit:

pip install pre-commit
pre-commit install
pre-commit run --all-files  # Test against existing codebase

Key Concepts

Term	Definition
SAST (Static Application Security Testing)	Analyzes source code without executing it to find security vulnerabilities; runs fast, catches issues early, but cannot find runtime flaws
DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing)	Tests a running application by sending requests and analyzing responses; finds runtime issues but requires a deployed environment
SCA (Software Composition Analysis)	Scans project dependencies against vulnerability databases (NVD, GitHub Advisory) to find known-vulnerable libraries
SBOM (Software Bill of Materials)	Machine-readable inventory of all components and dependencies in an application, used for vulnerability tracking and compliance
Shift Left	Security practice of moving security testing earlier in the SDLC, from post-deployment to pre-commit and CI stages
Security Gate	A CI/CD pipeline checkpoint that blocks deployment if security scan results exceed defined severity thresholds
Pre-commit Hook	Local Git hook that runs security checks before code is committed, providing the fastest developer feedback loop

Verification

• Gitleaks blocks commits and PRs containing hardcoded secrets (test with a dummy API key)
• Semgrep scan runs on every PR and reports findings as annotations or comments
• Trivy filesystem scan detects a known-vulnerable dependency (test by adding a vulnerable package)
• Trivy container scan runs successfully against the built Docker image
• SBOM is generated and stored as a build artifact in CycloneDX or SPDX format
• OWASP ZAP baseline scan runs against the staging URL without crashing
• Security gate job blocks merges to main when any scan finds critical/high severity issues
• Branch protection rules enforce required status checks before merge
• Pre-commit hooks catch secrets and SAST findings locally before push
• Developer documentation explains how to interpret scan results and fix common findings