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Bandit scanner reference for STO

You can scan your code repositories using Bandit, an open-source tool designed to find common security issues in Python code.

Important notes for running Bandit 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:

Bandit step settings for STO scans​

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

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​

  • 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 (repository)​

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.

For example, you can skip certain tests using -skip followed by a list of test IDs: -skip testID_1, testID_3, testID_5

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 Bandit scans in STO (legacy)​

note

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

Scan policy types​

STO supports the following policy_type settings for Bandit:

  • orchestratedScan  — A Security step in the pipeline runs the scan and ingests the results. This is the easiest to set up and supports scans with default or predefined settings.
  • ingestionOnly — Run the scan in a Run step, or outside the pipeline, and then ingest the results. This is useful for advanced workflows that address specific security needs. See Ingest scan results into an STO pipeline.

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.

Bandit scan settings​

The following settings are required for Bandit scans:

  • product_name = bandit
  • scan_type = repository
  • product_config_name = default — Run a Bandit scan with the default settings.
  • repository_project — The repository name. If you want to scan https://github.com/my-github-account/codebaseAlpha, for example, you would set this to codebaseAlpha.
  • repository_branch — This tells Bandit the Git branch to scan. You can specify a hardcoded string or use the runtime variable <+codebase.branch>. This sets the branch based on the user input or trigger payload at runtime.
  • fail_on_severity - See Fail on Severity.

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

YAML pipeline example​

If you copy this example, replace the placeholder values with appropriate values for your project, organization, and connectors.

pipeline:
  name: your-first-pipeline-v2
  identifier: yourfirstpipelinev2
  projectIdentifier: YOUR_HARNESS_PROJECT_ID
  orgIdentifier: YOUR_HARNESS_ORGANIZATION_ID
  tags: {}
  stages:
    - stage:
        name: bandit_repo_scan
        identifier: bandit_repo_scan
        description: ""
        type: SecurityTests
        spec:
          cloneCodebase: true
          platform:
            os: Linux
            arch: Amd64
          runtime:
            type: Cloud
            spec: {}
          execution:
            steps:
              - step:
                  type: Bandit
                  name: bandit_repo_scan
                  identifier: bandit_repo_scan
                  spec:
                    mode: orchestration
                    config: default
                    target:
                      name: <+input>
                      type: repository
                      variant: <+input>
                    advanced:
                      log:
                        level: info
                      fail_on_severity: critical
  properties:
    ci:
      codebase:
        connectorRef: YOUR_CODEBASE_CONNECTOR_ID
        repoName: <+input>
        build: <+input>