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Checkmarx scanner reference

You can scan your repositories using Checkmarx. Harness STO supports the following workflows:

  • Ingestion workflows for all Checkmarx One services (including SAST and SCA) that can publish scan results in SARIF format.
  • Orchestration, Extraction, and Ingestion workflows for Checkmarx SAST and Checkmarx SCA scans.

Before you begin​

Docker-in-Docker requirements​

note

Docker-in-Docker is not required for ingestion workflows where the scan data has already been generated.

You need to include a Docker-in-Docker background service in your stage if either of these conditions apply:

  • You configured your scanner using a generic Security step rather than a scanner-specific template such as Aqua Trivy, Bandit, Mend, Snyk, etc.
  • You’re scanning a container image using an Orchestration or Extraction workflow.
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 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:

  • You need to run a Docker-in-Docker background service.

  • You need to add trusted certificates to your scan images at runtime.

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.

Checkmarx step configuration​

The recommended workflow is add a Checkmarx step to a Security Tests or CI Build stage and then configure it as described below. You can also configure Checkmarx scans programmatically by copying, pasting, and editing the YAML definition.

note
  • UI configuration support is currently limited to a subset of scanners. Extending UI support to additional scanners is on the Harness engineering roadmap.
  • Each scanner template shows only the options that apply to a specific scan. If you're setting up a repository scan, for example, the UI won't show Container Image settings.
  • Docker-in-Docker is not required for these steps unless you're scanning a container image. If you're scanning a repository using Bandit, for example, you don't need to set up a Background step running DinD.
  • Support is currently limited to Kubernetes and Harness Cloud AMD64 build infrastructures only.
Scanner Template example

Scan settings​

Scan Mode​

The orchestration mode to use for the scan. The following list includes the UI and YAML values for the supported options.

  • Orchestrated A fully-orchestrated scan. A Security step in the Harness pipeline orchestrates a scan and then normalizes and compresses the results.
  • Extraction A partially-orchestrated scan. The Security step pulls scan results from an external SaaS service and then normalizes and compresses the data.
  • Ingestion Ingestion scans are not orchestrated. The Security step ingest results from a previous scan (for a scan run in an previous step) and then normallizes and compresses 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.

Name​

The Identifier that you want to assign to the target you’re scanning in the pipeline. Use a unique, descriptive name such as codebaseAlpha or jsmith/myalphaservice. Using descriptive target names will make it much easier to navigate your scan data in the STO UI.

Variant​

An identifier for a specific variant to scan, such as the branch name or image tag. This identifier is used to differentiate or group results for a target. Harness maintains a historical trend for each variant.

You can see the target name, type, and variant in the Test Targets UI:

Target name, type, and branch

Workspace​

The workspace path on the pod running the Security 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 results data file to use when running an Ingestion scan. STO steps can ingest scan data in SARIF and Harness Custom JSON format. Generally an Ingestion scan consists of a scan step (to generate the data file) and an ingestion step (to ingest the data file).

Authentication​

Domain​

The fully-qualified URL to the scanner.

Enforce SSL​

The step and the scanner communicate over SSL by default. Set this to false to disable SSL (not safe).

Access ID​

Username to log in to the scanner.

Access Token​

The access token to log in to the scanner. 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.

Scan Tool​

Team Name​

The Checkmarx team name. Use the format /<server-name>/<team-name> — for example, /server1.myorg.org/devOpsEast.

Project Name​

The name of the scan project as defined in the scanner. This is the also the target name in the Harness UI (Security Tests > Test Targets).

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 run the Checkmarx plugin with specific command-line arguments. To run an incremental scan, for example, specify tool_args = -incremental.

Running incremental scans with Checkmarx​

In some cases, you might want to run an incremental rather than a full scan with Checkmarx due to time or licensing limits. An incremental scan evaluates only new or changed code in a merge or pull request. Incremental scans are faster than full scans, but become less accurate over time.

note

Consider carefully when to run incremental vs. full scans. See When should I use Incremental Scans vs Full Scans in CxSAST? in the Checkmarx documentation.

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

Settings​

You can use this field to provide environment variables to be used during the execution of the step. As an exemple, if you need to access your Checkmarx server through a proxy, you can add this setting:

  • key = JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS
  • value = -DproxySet=true -Dhttp.proxyHost=MY_PROXY_ADDRESS -Dhttp.proxyPort=MY_PROXY_PORT

Replace MY_PROXY_ADDRESS with your proxy address or proxy FQDN, and MY_PROXY_PORT with your proxy port. If you want to go through an HTTPS proxy, replace -Dhttp with -Dhttps.

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 configuration (deprecated)​

You can set up any supported scanner 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.

Checkmarx scan settings​

  • product_name = checkmarx
  • scan_type = repository
  • policy_type = orchestratedScan, dataLoad, or ingestionOnly
  • When policy_type is set to orchestratedScan or dataLoad:
    • product_domain
    • product_access_id
    • product_access_token = The account password
    • product_team_name = /<server-name>/<team-name> for example, /server1.myorg.org/devOpsEast
    • product_project_name
  • product_config_name = default
  • When policy_type is set to orchestratedScan
  • fail_on_severity - See Fail on Severity.

Ingestion file​

The following setting is required for Security steps where the policy_type is ingestionOnly.

  • ingestion_file The results data file to use when running an Ingestion scan. You should specify the full path to the data file in your workspace, such as /shared/customer_artifacts/my_scan_results.json. STO steps can ingest scan data in SARIF and Harness Custom JSON format.

The following steps outline the general workflow for ingesting scan data into your pipeline:

  1. Specify a shared folder for your scan results, such as /shared/customer_artifacts. You can do this in the Overview tab of the Security stage where you're ingesting your data.

  2. Create a Run step that copies your scan results to the shared folder. You can run your scan externally, before you run the build, or set up the Run step to run the scan and then copy the results.

  3. Add a Security step after the Run step and add the target name, variant, and ingestion_file settings as described above.

For a complete workflow description and example, go to Ingest Scan Results into an STO Pipeline.

Example workflow: Ingest SARIF data from a Checkmarx GitHub Action scan​

The following pipeline example illustrates an ingestion workflow. It consists of two steps:

  • An Action step scans a code repo using a Checkmarx GitHub Action and export the scan results to a SARIF data file.
  • A Checkmarx step that ingests the SARIF data.

Checkmarx ingestion pipeline in Pipeline Studio

pipeline:
  projectIdentifier: STO
  orgIdentifier: default
  tags: {}
  properties:
    ci:
      codebase:
        connectorRef: NodeGoat_Harness_Hosted
        repoName: https://github.com/OWASP/NodeGoat
        build: <+input>
  stages:
    - stage:
        name: CheckmarxSCA
        identifier: checkmarxone
        type: CI
        spec:
          cloneCodebase: true
          execution:
            steps:
              - step:
                  type: Action
                  name: Checkmarx Scan GHA
                  identifier: CxFlow
                  spec:
                    uses: checkmarx-ts/checkmarx-cxflow-github-action@v1.6
                    with:
                      project: SampleProject
                      team: /CxServer/nzsouth
                      scanners: sca
                      checkmarx_url: <+secrets.getValue("my-checkmarx-url")>
                      checkmarx_username: zeronorth
                      checkmarx_password:  <+secrets.getValue("my-checkmarx-password")>
                      checkmarx_client_secret: <+secrets.getValue("my-checkmarx-client-secret")>
                      sca_username: harness
                      sca_password:  <+secrets.getValue("my-sca-passeword")>
                      sca_tenant: cxIntegrations
                      break_build: false
              - step:
                  type: Checkmarx
                  name: ingest-cmarx
                  identifier: Checkmarx_1
                  spec:
                    mode: ingestion
                    config: default
                    target:
                      name: <+pipeline.name>
                      type: repository
                      variant: dev
                    advanced:
                      log:
                        level: debug
                    runAsUser: "1001"
                    ingestion:
                      file: /harness/cx.sarif
          platform:
            os: Linux
            arch: Amd64
          runtime:
            type: Cloud
            spec: {}
          sharedPaths:
            - /shared/customer_artifacts/
  identifier: CheckmarxGitAction
  name: CheckmarxGitAction