---
stage: Secure
group: Static Analysis
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
type: reference, howto
---

# Static Application Security Testing (SAST) **(FREE)**

> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/3775) in GitLab 10.3.
> - All open source (OSS) analyzers were moved from GitLab Ultimate to GitLab Free in GitLab 13.3.

NOTE:
The whitepaper ["A Seismic Shift in Application Security"](https://about.gitlab.com/resources/whitepaper-seismic-shift-application-security/)
explains how 4 of the top 6 attacks were application based. Download it to learn how to protect your
organization.

If you're using [GitLab CI/CD](../../../ci/index.md), you can use Static Application Security
Testing (SAST) to check your source code for known vulnerabilities. When a pipeline completes,
the results of the SAST analysis are processed and shown in the pipeline's Security tab. If the
pipeline is associated with a merge request, the SAST analysis is compared with the results of
the target branch's analysis (if available). The results of that comparison are shown in the merge
request. If the pipeline is running from the default branch, the results of the SAST
analysis are available in the [security dashboards](../security_dashboard/index.md).

![SAST results shown in the MR widget](img/sast_results_in_mr_v14_0.png)

The results are sorted by the priority of the vulnerability:

<!-- vale gitlab.SubstitutionWarning = NO -->

1. Critical
1. High
1. Medium
1. Low
1. Info
1. Unknown

<!-- vale gitlab.SubstitutionWarning = YES -->

A pipeline consists of multiple jobs, including SAST and DAST scanning. If any job fails to finish
for any reason, the security dashboard does not show SAST scanner output. For example, if the SAST
job finishes but the DAST job fails, the security dashboard does not show SAST results. On failure,
the analyzer outputs an [exit code](../../../development/integrations/secure.md#exit-code).

## Use cases

- Your code has a potentially dangerous attribute in a class, or unsafe code
  that can lead to unintended code execution.
- Your application is vulnerable to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks that can
  be leveraged to unauthorized access to session data.

## Requirements

To run SAST jobs, by default, you need GitLab Runner with the
[`docker`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html) or
[`kubernetes`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/kubernetes.html) executor.
If you're using the shared runners on GitLab.com, this is enabled by default.

WARNING:
Our SAST jobs require a Linux container type. Windows containers are not yet supported.

WARNING:
If you use your own runners, make sure the Docker version installed
is **not** `19.03.0`. See [troubleshooting information](#error-response-from-daemon-error-processing-tar-file-docker-tar-relocation-error) for details.

## Supported languages and frameworks

GitLab SAST supports a variety of languages, package managers, and frameworks. Our SAST security scanners also feature automatic language detection which works even for mixed-language projects. If any supported language is detected in project source code we automatically run the appropriate SAST analyzers.

You can also [view our language roadmap](https://about.gitlab.com/direction/secure/static-analysis/sast/#language-support) and [request other language support by opening an issue](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/297).

| Language (package managers) / framework                                                                                                           | Scan tool                                                                                                     | Introduced in GitLab Version                                                            |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| .NET Core                                                                                                                                         | [Security Code Scan](https://security-code-scan.github.io)                                                    | 11.0                                                                                    |
| .NET Framework                                                                                                                                    | [Security Code Scan](https://security-code-scan.github.io)                                                    | 13.0                                                                                    |
| Apex (Salesforce)                                                                                                                                 | [PMD](https://pmd.github.io/pmd/index.html)                                                                   | 12.1                                                                                    |
| C                                                                                                                                                 | [Semgrep](https://semgrep.dev)                                                                                | 14.2                                                                                    |
| C/C++                                                                                                                                             | [Flawfinder](https://github.com/david-a-wheeler/flawfinder)                                                   | 10.7                                                                                    |
| Elixir (Phoenix)                                                                                                                                  | [Sobelow](https://github.com/nccgroup/sobelow)                                                                | 11.1                                                                                    |
| Go                                                                                                                                                | [Gosec](https://github.com/securego/gosec)                                                                    | 10.7                                                                                    |
| Go                                                                                                                                                | [Semgrep](https://semgrep.dev)                                                                                | 14.4                                                                                    |
| Groovy ([Ant](https://ant.apache.org/), [Gradle](https://gradle.org/), [Maven](https://maven.apache.org/), and [SBT](https://www.scala-sbt.org/)) | [SpotBugs](https://spotbugs.github.io/) with the     [find-sec-bugs](https://find-sec-bugs.github.io/) plugin | 11.3 (Gradle) & 11.9 (Ant, Maven, SBT)                                                  |
| Helm Charts                                                                                                                                       | [Kubesec](https://github.com/controlplaneio/kubesec)                                                          | 13.1                                                                                    |
| Java ([Ant](https://ant.apache.org/), [Gradle](https://gradle.org/), [Maven](https://maven.apache.org/), and [SBT](https://www.scala-sbt.org/))   | [SpotBugs](https://spotbugs.github.io/) with the [find-sec-bugs](https://find-sec-bugs.github.io/) plugin     | 10.6 (Maven), 10.8 (Gradle) & 11.9 (Ant, SBT)                                           |
| Java (Android)                                                                                                                                    | [MobSF (beta)](https://github.com/MobSF/Mobile-Security-Framework-MobSF)                                      | 13.5                                                                                    |
| JavaScript                                                                                                                                        | [ESLint security plugin](https://github.com/nodesecurity/eslint-plugin-security)                              | 11.8                                                                                    |
| JavaScript                                                                                                                                        | [Semgrep](https://semgrep.dev)                                                                                | 13.10                                                                                   |
| Kotlin (Android)                                                                                                                                  | [MobSF (beta)](https://github.com/MobSF/Mobile-Security-Framework-MobSF)                                      | 13.5                                                                                    |
| Kotlin (General)                                                                                                                                  | [SpotBugs](https://spotbugs.github.io/) with the [find-sec-bugs](https://find-sec-bugs.github.io/) plugin     | 13.11                                                                                   |
| Kubernetes manifests                                                                                                                              | [Kubesec](https://github.com/controlplaneio/kubesec)                                                          | 12.6                                                                                    |
| Node.js                                                                                                                                           | [NodeJsScan](https://github.com/ajinabraham/NodeJsScan)                                                       | 11.1                                                                                    |
| Objective-C (iOS)                                                                                                                                 | [MobSF (beta)](https://github.com/MobSF/Mobile-Security-Framework-MobSF)                                      | 13.5                                                                                    |
| PHP                                                                                                                                               | [phpcs-security-audit](https://github.com/FloeDesignTechnologies/phpcs-security-audit)                        | 10.8                                                                                    |
| Python ([pip](https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/))                                                                                                    | [bandit](https://github.com/PyCQA/bandit)                                                                     | 10.3                                                                                    |
| Python                                                                                                                                            | [Semgrep](https://semgrep.dev)                                                                                | 13.9                                                                                    |
| React                                                                                                                                             | [ESLint react plugin](https://github.com/yannickcr/eslint-plugin-react)                                       | 12.5                                                                                    |
| React                                                                                                                                             | [Semgrep](https://semgrep.dev)                                                                                | 13.10                                                                                   |
| Ruby                                                                                                                                              | [brakeman](https://brakemanscanner.org)                                                                       | 13.9                                                                                    |
| Ruby on Rails                                                                                                                                     | [brakeman](https://brakemanscanner.org)                                                                       | 10.3                                                                                    |
| Scala ([Ant](https://ant.apache.org/), [Gradle](https://gradle.org/), [Maven](https://maven.apache.org/), and [SBT](https://www.scala-sbt.org/))  | [SpotBugs](https://spotbugs.github.io/) with the [find-sec-bugs](https://find-sec-bugs.github.io/) plugin     | 11.0 (SBT) & 11.9 (Ant, Gradle, Maven)                                                  |
| Swift (iOS)                                                                                                                                       | [MobSF (beta)](https://github.com/MobSF/Mobile-Security-Framework-MobSF)                                      | 13.5                                                                                    |
| TypeScript                                                                                                                                        | [ESLint security plugin](https://github.com/nodesecurity/eslint-plugin-security)                              | 11.9, [merged](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/36059) with ESLint in 13.2 |
| TypeScript                                                                                                                                        | [Semgrep](https://semgrep.dev)                                                                                | 13.10                                                                                   |

Note that the Java analyzers can also be used for variants like the
[Gradle wrapper](https://docs.gradle.org/current/userguide/gradle_wrapper.html),
[Grails](https://grails.org/),
and the [Maven wrapper](https://github.com/takari/maven-wrapper).

### Multi-project support

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/4895) in GitLab 13.7.

GitLab SAST can scan repositories that contain multiple projects.

The following analyzers have multi-project support:

- Bandit
- ESLint
- Gosec
- Kubesec
- NodeJsScan
- MobSF
- PMD
- Security Code Scan
- Semgrep
- SpotBugs
- Sobelow

#### Enable multi-project support for Security Code Scan

Multi-project support in the Security Code Scan requires a Solution (`.sln`) file in the root of
the repository. For details on the Solution format, see the Microsoft reference [Solution (`.sln`) file](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/extensibility/internals/solution-dot-sln-file?view=vs-2019).

### Making SAST analyzers available to all GitLab tiers

All open source (OSS) analyzers have been moved to the GitLab Free tier as of GitLab 13.3.

#### Summary of features per tier

Different features are available in different [GitLab tiers](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/),
as shown in the following table:

| Capability                                                                             | In Free             | In Ultimate        |
|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:--------------------|:-------------------|
| [Configure SAST Scanners](#configuration)                                              | **{check-circle}**  | **{check-circle}** |
| [Customize SAST Settings](#customizing-the-sast-settings)                              | **{check-circle}**  | **{check-circle}** |
| View [JSON Report](#reports-json-format)                                               | **{check-circle}**  | **{check-circle}** |
| Presentation of JSON Report in Merge Request                                           | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [Address vulnerabilities](../../application_security/vulnerabilities/index.md)         | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [Access to Security Dashboard](../../application_security/security_dashboard/index.md) | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [Configure SAST in the UI](#configure-sast-in-the-ui)                                  | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [Customize SAST Rulesets](#customize-rulesets)                                         | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [False Positive Detection](#false-positive-detection)                                  | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |

## Contribute your scanner

The [Security Scanner Integration](../../../development/integrations/secure.md) documentation explains how to integrate other security scanners into GitLab.

## Configuration

To configure SAST for a project you can:

- Use [Auto SAST](../../../topics/autodevops/stages.md#auto-sast), provided by
  [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md).
- [Configure SAST manually](#configure-sast-manually).
- [Configure SAST using the UI](#configure-sast-in-the-ui) (introduced in GitLab 13.3).

### Configure SAST manually

For GitLab 11.9 and later, to enable SAST you must [include](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#includetemplate)
the [`SAST.gitlab-ci.yml` template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml)
provided as a part of your GitLab installation. For GitLab versions earlier than 11.9, you
can copy and use the job as defined that template.

Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml
```

The included template creates SAST jobs in your CI/CD pipeline and scans
your project's source code for possible vulnerabilities.

The results are saved as a
[SAST report artifact](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#artifactsreportssast)
that you can later download and analyze. Due to implementation limitations, we
always take the latest SAST artifact available.

### Configure SAST in the UI

You can enable and configure SAST in the UI, either with default settings, or with customizations.
Use the method that best meets your needs.

- [Configure SAST in the UI with default settings](#configure-sast-in-the-ui-with-default-settings)
- [Configure SAST in the UI with customizations](#configure-sast-in-the-ui-with-customizations)

### Configure SAST in the UI with default settings

> [Introduced](https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2021/02/22/gitlab-13-9-released/#security-configuration-page-for-all-users) in GitLab 13.9

To enable and configure SAST with default settings:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Projects** and find your project.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Security & Compliance** > **Configuration**.
1. In the SAST section, select `Enable via MR`.
1. Review the draft MR that enables SAST with the default recommended settings in the
   `.gitlab-ci.yml` file.
1. Merge the MR to enable SAST. You should see SAST jobs run in that MR's pipeline.

NOTE:
The configuration tool works best with no existing `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, or with a minimal
configuration file. If you have a complex GitLab configuration file it may not be parsed
successfully, and an error may occur.

### Configure SAST in the UI with customizations **(ULTIMATE)**

> - [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/3659) in GitLab 13.3.
> - [Improved](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/232862) in GitLab 13.4.
> - [Improved](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/3635) in GitLab 13.5.

To enable and configure SAST with customizations:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Projects** and find your project.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Security & Compliance > Configuration**.
1. If the project does not have a `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, select **Enable** in the Static Application
   Security Testing (SAST) row, otherwise select **Configure**.
1. Enter the custom SAST values.

   Custom values are stored in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. For CI/CD variables not in the SAST
   Configuration page, their values are left unchanged. Default values are inherited from the GitLab
   SAST template.

1. Optionally, expand the **SAST analyzers** section, select individual
   [SAST analyzers](analyzers.md) and enter custom analyzer values.
1. Select **Create Merge Request**.
1. Review and merge the merge request.

NOTE:
The configuration tool works best with no existing `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, or with a minimal
configuration file. If you have a complex GitLab configuration file it may not be parsed
successfully, and an error may occur.

### Customizing the SAST settings

The SAST settings can be changed through [CI/CD variables](#available-cicd-variables)
by using the
[`variables`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#variables) parameter in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
In the following example, we include the SAST template and at the same time we
set the `SAST_GOSEC_LEVEL` variable to `2`:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  SAST_GOSEC_LEVEL: 2
```

Because the template is [evaluated before](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#include)
the pipeline configuration, the last mention of the variable takes precedence.

### Overriding SAST jobs

WARNING:
Beginning in GitLab 13.0, the use of [`only` and `except`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#only--except)
is no longer supported. When overriding the template, you must use [`rules`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#rules) instead.

To override a job definition, (for example, change properties like `variables` or `dependencies`),
declare a job with the same name as the SAST job to override. Place this new job after the template
inclusion and specify any additional keys under it. For example, this enables `FAIL_NEVER` for the
`spotbugs` analyzer:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

spotbugs-sast:
  variables:
    FAIL_NEVER: 1
```

#### Pinning to minor image version

While our templates use `MAJOR` version pinning to always ensure the latest analyzer
versions are pulled, there are certain cases where it can be beneficial to pin
an analyzer to a specific release. To do so, override the `SAST_ANALYZER_IMAGE_TAG` CI/CD variable
in the job template directly.

In the example below, we pin to a specific patch version of the `spotbugs` analyzer and minor version of the `semgrep` analyzer:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

semgrep-sast:
  variables:
    SAST_ANALYZER_IMAGE_TAG: "2.12"

spotbugs-sast:
  variables:
    SAST_ANALYZER_IMAGE_TAG: "2.28.1"
```

### Customize rulesets **(ULTIMATE)**

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/235382) in GitLab 13.5.

You can customize the default scanning rules provided by our SAST analyzers.

Ruleset customization supports two capabilities:

1. Disabling predefined rules (available for all analyzers).
1. Modifying the default behavior of a given analyzer (only available for `nodejs-scan` and `gosec`).

These capabilities can be used simultaneously.

To customize the default scanning rules, create a file containing custom rules. These rules
are passed through to the analyzer's underlying scanner tools.

To create a custom ruleset:

1. Create a `.gitlab` directory at the root of your project, if one doesn't already exist.
1. Create a custom ruleset file named `sast-ruleset.toml` in the `.gitlab` directory.
1. In the `sast-ruleset.toml` file, do one of the following:

   - Disable predefined rules belonging to SAST analyzers. In this example, the three disabled rules
     belong to `eslint` and `sobelow` by matching the corresponding identifiers' `type` and `value`:

     ```toml
     [eslint]
       [[eslint.ruleset]]
         disable = true
         [eslint.ruleset.identifier]
           type = "eslint_rule_id"
           value = "security/detect-object-injection"

       [[eslint.ruleset]]
         disable = true
         [eslint.ruleset.identifier]
           type = "cwe"
           value = "185"

     [sobelow]
       [[sobelow.ruleset]]
         disable = true
         [sobelow.ruleset.identifier]
           type = "sobelow_rule_id"
           value = "sql_injection"
     ```

   - Define a custom analyzer configuration. In this example, customized rules are defined for the
     `nodejs-scan` scanner:

     ```toml
     [nodejs-scan]
       description = 'custom ruleset for nodejs-scan'

       [[nodejs-scan.passthrough]]
         type  = "raw"
         value = '''
     - nodejs-extensions:
       - .js

       template-extensions:
       - .new
       - .hbs
       - ''

       ignore-filenames:
     - skip.js

       ignore-paths:
       - __MACOSX
       - skip_dir
       - node_modules

       ignore-extensions:
       - .hbs

       ignore-rules:
       - regex_injection_dos
       - pug_jade_template
       - express_xss

     '''
     ```

   - Provide the name of the file containing a custom analyzer configuration. In this example,
     customized rules for the `gosec` scanner are contained in the file `gosec-config.json`:

     ```toml
     [gosec]
       description = 'custom ruleset for gosec'

       [[gosec.passthrough]]
         type  = "file"
         value = "gosec-config.json"
     ```

### False Positive Detection **(ULTIMATE)**

> Introduced in GitLab 14.2.

Vulnerabilities that have been detected and are false positives will be flagged as false positives in the security dashboard.

### Using CI/CD variables to pass credentials for private repositories

Some analyzers require downloading the project's dependencies in order to
perform the analysis. In turn, such dependencies may live in private Git
repositories and thus require credentials like username and password to download them.
Depending on the analyzer, such credentials can be provided to
it via [custom CI/CD variables](#custom-cicd-variables).

#### Using a CI/CD variable to pass username and password to a private Maven repository

If your private Maven repository requires login credentials,
you can use the `MAVEN_CLI_OPTS` CI/CD variable.

Read more on [how to use private Maven repositories](../index.md#using-private-maven-repositories).

### Enabling Kubesec analyzer

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/12752) in GitLab 12.6.

You need to set `SCAN_KUBERNETES_MANIFESTS` to `"true"` to enable the
Kubesec analyzer. In `.gitlab-ci.yml`, define:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  SCAN_KUBERNETES_MANIFESTS: "true"
```

### Pre-compilation

If your project requires custom build configurations, it can be preferable to avoid
compilation during your SAST execution and instead pass all job artifacts from an
earlier stage in the pipeline. This is the current strategy when requiring
a `before_script` execution to prepare your scan job.

To pass your project's dependencies as artifacts, the dependencies must be included
in the project's working directory and specified using the `artifacts:path` configuration.
If all dependencies are present, the `COMPILE=false` CI/CD variable can be provided to the
analyzer and compilation is skipped:

```yaml
stages:
  - build
  - test

include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

build:
  image: maven:3.6-jdk-8-slim
  stage: build
  script:
    - mvn package -Dmaven.repo.local=./.m2/repository
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - .m2/
      - target/

spotbugs-sast:
  dependencies:
    - build
  variables:
    MAVEN_REPO_PATH: ./.m2/repository
    COMPILE: "false"
  artifacts:
    reports:
      sast: gl-sast-report.json
```

To allow the analyzer to recognize the compiled artifacts, you must explicitly specify the path to
the vendored directory. This configuration can vary per analyzer but in the case of Java above, you
can use `MAVEN_REPO_PATH`. See
[Analyzer settings](#analyzer-settings) for the complete list of available options.

### Available CI/CD variables

SAST can be [configured](#customizing-the-sast-settings) using CI/CD variables.

#### Logging level

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/10880) in GitLab 13.1.

To control the verbosity of logs, set the `SECURE_LOG_LEVEL` environment variable. Messages of this
logging level or higher are output.

From highest to lowest severity, the logging levels are:

- `fatal`
- `error`
- `warn`
- `info` (default)
- `debug`

#### Custom Certificate Authority

To trust a custom Certificate Authority, set the `ADDITIONAL_CA_CERT_BUNDLE` variable to the bundle
of CA certs that you want to trust in the SAST environment. The `ADDITIONAL_CA_CERT_BUNDLE` value should contain the [text representation of the X.509 PEM public-key certificate](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7468#section-5.1). For example, to configure this value in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, use the following:

```yaml
variables:
  ADDITIONAL_CA_CERT_BUNDLE: |
      -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
      MIIGqTCCBJGgAwIBAgIQI7AVxxVwg2kch4d56XNdDjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQsFADCB
      ...
      jWgmPqF3vUbZE0EyScetPJquRFRKIesyJuBFMAs=
      -----END CERTIFICATE-----
```

The `ADDITIONAL_CA_CERT_BUNDLE` value can also be configured as a [custom variable in the UI](../../../ci/variables/index.md#custom-cicd-variables), either as a `file`, which requires the path to the certificate, or as a variable, which requires the text representation of the certificate.

#### Docker images

The following are Docker image-related CI/CD variables.

| CI/CD variable            | Description                                                                                                                           |
|---------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `SECURE_ANALYZERS_PREFIX` | Override the name of the Docker registry providing the default images (proxy). Read more about [customizing analyzers](analyzers.md). |
| `SAST_EXCLUDED_ANALYZERS` | Names of default images that should never run. Read more about [customizing analyzers](analyzers.md).                                 |
| `SAST_ANALYZER_IMAGE_TAG` | Override the default version of analyzer image. Read more about [pinning the analyzer image version](#pinning-to-minor-image-version).                                 |

#### Vulnerability filters

Some analyzers make it possible to filter out vulnerabilities under a given threshold.

| CI/CD variable               | Default value            | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
|------------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `SAST_EXCLUDED_PATHS`        | `spec, test, tests, tmp` | Exclude vulnerabilities from output based on the paths. This is a comma-separated list of patterns. Patterns can be globs, or file or folder paths (for example, `doc,spec`). Parent directories also match patterns. You might need to exclude temporary directories used by your build tool as these can generate false positives. To exclude paths, copy and paste the default excluded paths, then **add** your own paths to be excluded. If you don't specify the default excluded paths, you will override the defaults and _only_ paths you specify will be excluded from the SAST scans. |
| `SEARCH_MAX_DEPTH`           | 4                        | SAST searches the repository to detect the programming languages used, and selects the matching analyzers. Set the value of `SEARCH_MAX_DEPTH` to specify how many directory levels the search phase should span. After the analyzers have been selected, the _entire_ repository is analyzed. |
| `SAST_BANDIT_EXCLUDED_PATHS` |                          | Comma-separated list of paths to exclude from scan. Uses Python's [`fnmatch` syntax](https://docs.python.org/2/library/fnmatch.html); For example: `'*/tests/*, */venv/*'`                                                  |
| `SAST_BRAKEMAN_LEVEL`        | 1                        | Ignore Brakeman vulnerabilities under given confidence level. Integer, 1=Low 3=High.                                                                                                                                        |
| `SAST_FLAWFINDER_LEVEL`      | 1                        | Ignore Flawfinder vulnerabilities under given risk level. Integer, 0=No risk, 5=High risk.                                                                                                                                  |
| `SAST_GOSEC_LEVEL`           | 0                        | Ignore Gosec vulnerabilities under given confidence level. Integer, 0=Undefined, 1=Low, 2=Medium, 3=High.                                                                                                                   |

#### Analyzer settings

Some analyzers can be customized with CI/CD variables.

| CI/CD variable              | Analyzer   | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
|-----------------------------|------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `SCAN_KUBERNETES_MANIFESTS` | Kubesec    | Set to `"true"` to scan Kubernetes manifests.                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `KUBESEC_HELM_CHARTS_PATH`  | Kubesec    | Optional path to Helm charts that `helm` uses to generate a Kubernetes manifest that `kubesec` scans. If dependencies are defined, `helm dependency build` should be ran in a `before_script` to fetch the necessary dependencies. |
| `KUBESEC_HELM_OPTIONS`      | Kubesec    | Additional arguments for the `helm` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| `COMPILE`                   | Gosec, SpotBugs   | Set to `false` to disable project compilation and dependency fetching. [Introduced for `SpotBugs`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/195252) analyzer in GitLab 13.1 and [`Gosec`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/330678) analyzer in GitLab 14.0.  |
| `ANT_HOME`                  | SpotBugs   | The `ANT_HOME` variable.                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| `ANT_PATH`                  | SpotBugs   | Path to the `ant` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `GRADLE_PATH`               | SpotBugs   | Path to the `gradle` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `JAVA_OPTS`                 | SpotBugs   | Additional arguments for the `java` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| `JAVA_PATH`                 | SpotBugs   | Path to the `java` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| `SAST_JAVA_VERSION`         | SpotBugs   | Which Java version to use. Supported versions are `8` and `11`. Defaults to `8`.                                                                                                                                                   |
| `MAVEN_CLI_OPTS`            | SpotBugs   | Additional arguments for the `mvn` or `mvnw` executable.                                                                                                                                                                           |
| `MAVEN_PATH`                | SpotBugs   | Path to the `mvn` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `MAVEN_REPO_PATH`           | SpotBugs   | Path to the Maven local repository (shortcut for the `maven.repo.local` property).                                                                                                                                                 |
| `SBT_PATH`                  | SpotBugs   | Path to the `sbt` executable.                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| `FAIL_NEVER`                | SpotBugs   | Set to `1` to ignore compilation failure.                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| `SAST_GOSEC_CONFIG`         | Gosec      | **{warning}** **[Removed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/328301)** in GitLab 14.0 - use custom rulesets instead. Path to configuration for Gosec (optional).                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `PHPCS_SECURITY_AUDIT_PHP_EXTENSIONS` | phpcs-security-audit | Comma separated list of additional PHP Extensions.                                                                                                                                                             |
| `SAST_DISABLE_BABEL`        | NodeJsScan | **{warning}** **[Removed](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/64025)** in GitLab 13.5 |
| `SAST_SEMGREP_METRICS` | Semgrep | Set to `"false"` to disable sending anonymized scan metrics to [r2c](https://r2c.dev/). Default: `true`. [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/330565) in GitLab 14.0.      |

#### Custom CI/CD variables

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/18193) in GitLab 12.5.

In addition to the aforementioned SAST configuration CI/CD variables,
all [custom variables](../../../ci/variables/index.md#custom-cicd-variables) are propagated
to the underlying SAST analyzer images if
[the SAST vendored template](#configuration) is used.

NOTE:
In [GitLab 13.3 and earlier](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/220540),
variables whose names started with the following prefixes are **not** propagated to either the
analyzer containers or SAST Docker container: `DOCKER_`, `CI`, `GITLAB_`, `FF_`, `HOME`, `PWD`,
`OLDPWD`, `PATH`, `SHLVL`, `HOSTNAME`.

### Experimental features

You can receive early access to experimental features. Experimental features might be added,
removed, or promoted to regular features at any time.

Experimental features available are:

- Enable scanning of iOS and Android apps using the [MobSF analyzer](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/mobsf/).

#### Enable experimental features

To enable experimental features, add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  SAST_EXPERIMENTAL_FEATURES: "true"
```

## Reports JSON format

The SAST tool emits a JSON report file. For more information, see the
[schema for this report](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/security-report-schemas/-/blob/master/dist/sast-report-format.json).

The JSON report file can be downloaded from the CI pipelines page, or the
pipelines tab on merge requests by [setting `artifacts: paths`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#artifactspaths) to `gl-sast-report.json`. For more information see [Downloading artifacts](../../../ci/pipelines/job_artifacts.md).

Here's an example SAST report:

```json-doc
{
  "version": "2.0",
  "vulnerabilities": [
    {
      "id": "9e96e0ab-23da-4d7d-a09e-0acbaa5e83ca",
      "category": "sast",
      "name": "Predictable pseudorandom number generator",
      "message": "Predictable pseudorandom number generator",
      "description": "The use of java.util.Random is predictable",
      "severity": "Medium",
      "confidence": "Medium",
      "scanner": {
        "id": "find_sec_bugs",
        "name": "Find Security Bugs"
      },
      "location": {
        "file": "groovy/src/main/groovy/com/gitlab/security_products/tests/App.groovy",
        "start_line": 47,
        "end_line": 47,
        "class": "com.gitlab.security_products.tests.App",
        "method": "generateSecretToken2",
        "dependency": {
          "package": {}
        }
      },
      "identifiers": [
        {
          "type": "find_sec_bugs_type",
          "name": "Find Security Bugs-PREDICTABLE_RANDOM",
          "value": "PREDICTABLE_RANDOM",
          "url": "https://find-sec-bugs.github.io/bugs.htm#PREDICTABLE_RANDOM"
        },
        {
          "type": "cwe",
          "name": "CWE-330",
          "value": "330",
          "url": "https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/330.html"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "e6dbf91f-4c07-46f7-a365-0169489c27d1",
      "category": "sast",
      "message": "Probable insecure usage of temp file/directory.",
      "severity": "Medium",
      "confidence": "Medium",
      "scanner": {
        "id": "bandit",
        "name": "Bandit"
      },
      "location": {
        "file": "python/hardcoded/hardcoded-tmp.py",
        "start_line": 10,
        "end_line": 10,
        "dependency": {
          "package": {}
        }
      },
      "identifiers": [
        {
          "type": "bandit_test_id",
          "name": "Bandit Test ID B108",
          "value": "B108",
          "url": "https://docs.openstack.org/bandit/latest/plugins/b108_hardcoded_tmp_directory.html"
        }
      ]
    },
  ],
  "remediations": []
}
```

## Running SAST in an offline environment

For self-managed GitLab instances in an environment with limited, restricted, or intermittent access
to external resources through the internet, some adjustments are required for the SAST job to
run successfully. For more information, see [Offline environments](../offline_deployments/index.md).

### Requirements for offline SAST

To use SAST in an offline environment, you need:

- GitLab Runner with the [`docker` or `kubernetes` executor](#requirements).
- A Docker Container Registry with locally available copies of SAST [analyzer](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers) images.
- Configure certificate checking of packages (optional).

GitLab Runner has a [default `pull policy` of `always`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#using-the-always-pull-policy),
meaning the runner tries to pull Docker images from the GitLab container registry even if a local
copy is available. The GitLab Runner [`pull_policy` can be set to `if-not-present`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html#using-the-if-not-present-pull-policy)
in an offline environment if you prefer using only locally available Docker images. However, we
recommend keeping the pull policy setting to `always` if not in an offline environment, as this
enables the use of updated scanners in your CI/CD pipelines.

### Make GitLab SAST analyzer images available inside your Docker registry

For SAST with all [supported languages and frameworks](#supported-languages-and-frameworks),
import the following default SAST analyzer images from `registry.gitlab.com` into your
[local Docker container registry](../../packages/container_registry/index.md):

```plaintext
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/bandit:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/brakeman:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/eslint:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/flawfinder:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/gosec:3
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/kubesec:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/nodejs-scan:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/phpcs-security-audit:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/pmd-apex:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/security-code-scan:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/semgrep:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/sobelow:2
registry.gitlab.com/security-products/sast/spotbugs:2
```

The process for importing Docker images into a local offline Docker registry depends on
**your network security policy**. Please consult your IT staff to find an accepted and approved
process by which external resources can be imported or temporarily accessed. These scanners are [periodically updated](../vulnerabilities/index.md#vulnerability-scanner-maintenance)
with new definitions, and you may be able to make occasional updates on your own.

For details on saving and transporting Docker images as a file, see Docker's documentation on
[`docker save`](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/save/), [`docker load`](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/load/),
[`docker export`](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/export/), and [`docker import`](https://docs.docker.com/engine/reference/commandline/import/).

#### If support for Custom Certificate Authorities are needed

Support for custom certificate authorities was introduced in the following versions.

| Analyzer               | Version                                                                                                    |
| --------               | -------                                                                                                    |
| `bandit`               | [v2.3.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/bandit/-/releases/v2.3.0)               |
| `brakeman`             | [v2.1.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/brakeman/-/releases/v2.1.0)             |
| `eslint`               | [v2.9.2](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/eslint/-/releases/v2.9.2)               |
| `flawfinder`           | [v2.3.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/flawfinder/-/releases/v2.3.0)           |
| `gosec`                | [v2.5.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/gosec/-/releases/v2.5.0)                |
| `kubesec`              | [v2.1.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/kubesec/-/releases/v2.1.0)              |
| `nodejs-scan`          | [v2.9.5](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/nodejs-scan/-/releases/v2.9.5)          |
| `phpcs-security-audit` | [v2.8.2](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/phpcs-security-audit/-/releases/v2.8.2) |
| `pmd-apex`             | [v2.1.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/pmd-apex/-/releases/v2.1.0)             |
| `security-code-scan`   | [v2.7.3](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/security-code-scan/-/releases/v2.7.3)   |
| `semgrep`              | [v0.0.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/semgrep/-/releases/v0.0.1)   |
| `sobelow`              | [v2.2.0](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/sobelow/-/releases/v2.2.0)              |
| `spotbugs`             | [v2.7.1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/spotbugs/-/releases/v2.7.1)             |

### Set SAST CI/CD variables to use local SAST analyzers

Add the following configuration to your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file. You must replace
`SECURE_ANALYZERS_PREFIX` to refer to your local Docker container registry:

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  SECURE_ANALYZERS_PREFIX: "localhost:5000/analyzers"
```

The SAST job should now use local copies of the SAST analyzers to scan your code and generate
security reports without requiring internet access.

### Configure certificate checking of packages

If a SAST job invokes a package manager, you must configure its certificate verification. In an
offline environment, certificate verification with an external source is not possible. Either use a
self-signed certificate or disable certificate verification. Refer to the package manager's
documentation for instructions.

## Running SAST in SELinux

By default SAST analyzers are supported in GitLab instances hosted on SELinux. Adding a `before_script` in an [overridden SAST job](#overriding-sast-jobs) may not work as runners hosted on SELinux have restricted permissions.

## Troubleshooting

### SAST debug logging

Increase the [Secure scanner log verbosity](#logging-level) to `debug` in a global CI variable to help troubleshoot SAST jobs.

```yaml
variables:
  SECURE_LOG_LEVEL: "debug"
```

### `Error response from daemon: error processing tar file: docker-tar: relocation error`

This error occurs when the Docker version that runs the SAST job is `19.03.0`.
Consider updating to Docker `19.03.1` or greater. Older versions are not
affected. Read more in
[this issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/13830#note_211354992 "Current SAST container fails").

### Getting warning message `gl-sast-report.json: no matching files`

For information on this, see the [general Application Security troubleshooting section](../../../ci/pipelines/job_artifacts.md#error-message-no-files-to-upload).

### Error: `sast is used for configuration only, and its script should not be executed`

For information on this, see the [GitLab Secure troubleshooting section](../index.md#error-job-is-used-for-configuration-only-and-its-script-should-not-be-executed).

### Limitation when using rules:exists

The [SAST CI template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml)
uses the `rules:exists` parameter. For performance reasons, a maximum number of matches are made
against the given glob pattern. If the number of matches exceeds the maximum, the `rules:exists`
parameter returns `true`. Depending on the number of files in your repository, a SAST job might be
triggered even if the scanner doesn't support your project. For more details about this issue, see
the [`rules:exists` documentation](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#rulesexists).

### SpotBugs UTF-8 unmappable character errors

These errors occur when UTF-8 encoding isn't enabled on a SpotBugs build and there are UTF-8
characters in the source code. To fix this error, enable UTF-8 for your project's build tool.

For Gradle builds, add the following to your `build.gradle` file:

```gradle
compileJava.options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
    options.encoding = 'UTF-8'
}
```

For Maven builds, add the following to your `pom.xml` file:

```xml
<properties>
  <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
</properties>
```

### Flawfinder encoding error

This occurs when Flawfinder encounters an invalid UTF-8 character. To fix this, convert all source code in your project to UTF-8 character encoding. This can be done with [`cvt2utf`](https://github.com/x1angli/cvt2utf) or [`iconv`](https://www.gnu.org/software/libiconv/documentation/libiconv-1.13/iconv.1.html) either over the entire project or per job using the [`before_script`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#before_script) feature.

### Semgrep slowness, unexpected results, or other errors

If Semgrep is slow, reports too many false positives or false negatives, crashes, fails, or is otherwise broken, see the Semgrep docs for [troubleshooting GitLab SAST](https://semgrep.dev/docs/troubleshooting/gitlab-sast/).

### SAST job fails with message `strconv.ParseUint: parsing "0.0": invalid syntax`

Invoking Docker-in-Docker is the likely cause of this error. Docker-in-Docker is:

- Disabled by default in GitLab 13.0 and later.
- Unsupported from GitLab 13.4 and later.

Several workarounds are available. From GitLab version 13.0 and later, you must not use
Docker-in-Docker.

#### Workaround 1: Pin analyzer versions (GitLab 12.1 and earlier)

Set the following variables for the SAST job. This pins the analyzer versions to the last known
working version, allowing SAST with Docker-in-Docker to complete as it did previously:

```yaml
sast:
  variables:
    SAST_DEFAULT_ANALYZERS: ""
    SAST_ANALYZER_IMAGES: "registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/bandit:2.9.6, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/brakeman:2.11.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/eslint:2.10.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/flawfinder:2.11.1, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/gosec:2.14.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/nodejs-scan:2.11.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/phpcs-security-audit:2.9.1, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/pmd-apex:2.9.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/secrets:3.12.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/security-code-scan:2.13.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/sobelow:2.8.0, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/spotbugs:2.13.6, registry.gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/analyzers/tslint:2.4.0"
```

Remove any analyzers you don't need from the `SAST_ANALYZER_IMAGES` list. Keep
`SAST_DEFAULT_ANALYZERS` set to an empty string `""`.

#### Workaround 2: Disable Docker-in-Docker for SAST and Dependency Scanning (GitLab 12.3 and later)

Disable Docker-in-Docker for SAST. Individual `<analyzer-name>-sast` jobs are created for each
analyzer that runs in your CI/CD pipeline.

```yaml
include:
  - template: SAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  SAST_DISABLE_DIND: "true"
```

#### Workaround 3: Upgrade to GitLab 13.x and use the defaults

From GitLab 13.0, SAST defaults to not using Docker-in-Docker. In GitLab 13.4 and later, SAST using
Docker-in-Docker is [no longer supported](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/220540).
If you have this problem on GitLab 13.x and later, you have customized your SAST job to
use Docker-in-Docker. To resolve this, comment out any customizations you've made to
your SAST CI job definition and [follow the documentation](index.md#configuration)
to reconfigure, using the new and improved job definition default values.

```yaml
include:
  - template: Security/SAST.gitlab-ci.yml
```
