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Secure Dynamic Analysis 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 reference, howto

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (ULTIMATE)

If you deploy your web application into a new environment, your application may become exposed to new types of attacks. For example, misconfigurations of your application server or incorrect assumptions about security controls may not be visible from the source code.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) examines applications for vulnerabilities like these in deployed environments. DAST uses the open source tool OWASP Zed Attack Proxy for analysis.

After DAST creates its report, GitLab evaluates it for discovered vulnerabilities between the source and target branches. Relevant findings are noted in the merge request.

The comparison logic uses only the latest pipeline executed for the target branch's base commit. Running the pipeline on other commits has no effect on the merge request.

NOTE: To learn how four of the top six attacks were application-based and how to protect your organization, download our "A Seismic Shift in Application Security" whitepaper.

DAST application analysis

DAST can analyze applications in two ways:

  • Passive scan only (DAST default). DAST executes ZAP's Baseline Scan and doesn't actively attack your application.
  • Passive and active scan. DAST can be configured to also perform an active scan to attack your application and produce a more extensive security report. It can be very useful when combined with Review Apps.

NOTE: A pipeline may consist of multiple jobs, including SAST and DAST scanning. If any job fails to finish for any reason, the security dashboard doesn't show DAST scanner output. For example, if the DAST job finishes but the SAST job fails, the security dashboard doesn't show DAST results. On failure, the analyzer outputs an exit code.

Prerequisites

Deployment options

Depending on the complexity of the target application, there are a few options as to how to deploy and configure the DAST template. We provided a set of example applications with their configurations in our DAST demonstrations project.

Review Apps

Review Apps are the most involved method of deploying your DAST target application. To assist in the process, we created a Review App deployment using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). This example can be found in our Review Apps - GKE project, along with detailed instructions in the README.md on how to configure Review Apps for DAST.

Docker Services

If your application utilizes Docker containers you have another option for deploying and scanning with DAST. After your Docker build job completes and your image is added to your container registry, you can use the image as a service.

By using service definitions in your .gitlab-ci.yml, you can scan services with the DAST analyzer.

stages:
  - build
  - dast

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

# Deploys the container to the GitLab container registry
deploy:
  services:
  - name: docker:dind
    alias: dind
  image: docker:19.03.5
  stage: build
  script:
    - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_JOB_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY
    - docker pull $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest || true
    - docker build --tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA --tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest .
    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA
    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest

services: # use services to link your app container to the dast job
  - name: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA
    alias: yourapp

variables:
  DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED: "true" # do a full scan
  DAST_ZAP_USE_AJAX_SPIDER: "true" # use the ajax spider

Most applications depend on multiple services such as databases or caching services. By default, services defined in the services fields cannot communicate with each another. To allow communication between services, enable the FF_NETWORK_PER_BUILD feature flag.

variables:
  FF_NETWORK_PER_BUILD: "true" # enable network per build so all services can communicate on the same network

services: # use services to link the container to the dast job
  - name: mongo:latest
    alias: mongo
  - name: $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_COMMIT_SHA
    alias: yourapp

DAST job order

When using the DAST.gitlab-ci.yml template, the dast stage is run last as shown in the example below. To ensure DAST scans the latest code, deploy your application in a stage before the dast stage.

  stages:
    - build
    - test
    - deploy
    - dast

Take care if your pipeline is configured to deploy to the same web server in each run. Running a pipeline while another is still running could result in one pipeline overwriting the code from another pipeline. The site to be scanned should be excluded from changes for the duration of a DAST scan. The only changes to the site should be from the DAST scanner.

Changes to the site during a scan from any of the following could lead to inaccurate results:

  • Users.
  • Scheduled tasks.
  • Database changes.
  • Code changes.
  • Other pipelines.
  • Other scanners.

DAST run options

You can use DAST to examine your web application:

  • Automatically, initiated by a merge request.
  • Manually, initiated on demand.

Some of the differences between these run options:

Automatic scan On-demand scan
DAST scan is initiated by a merge request. DAST scan is initiated manually, outside the DevOps life cycle.
CI/CD variables are sourced from .gitlab-ci.yml. CI/CD variables are provided in the UI.
All DAST CI/CD variables available. Subset of DAST CI/CD variables available.
DAST.gitlab-ci.yml template. DAST-On-Demand-Scan.gitlab-ci.yml template.

Enable automatic DAST run

To enable DAST to run automatically, either:

Include the DAST template

This template was updated to DAST_VERSION: 2 in GitLab 14.0.

If you want to manually add DAST to your application, the DAST job is defined in a CI/CD template file. Updates to the template are provided with GitLab upgrades, allowing you to benefit from any improvements and additions.

To include the DAST template:

  1. Select the CI/CD template you want to use:

    WARNING: The latest version of the template may include breaking changes. Use the stable template unless you need a feature provided only in the latest template.

    For more information about template versioning, see the CI/CD documentation.

  2. Add a dast stage to your GitLab CI stages configuration:

    stages:
  - dast

  3. Add the template to GitLab, based on your version of GitLab:

    • In GitLab 11.9 and later, include the template by adding the following to your .gitlab-ci.yml file:

      include:
  - template: <template_file.yml>

variables:
  DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com

    • In GitLab 11.8 and earlier, add the contents of the template to your .gitlab_ci.yml file.

  4. Define the URL to be scanned by DAST by using one of these methods:

    • Set the DAST_WEBSITE CI/CD variable. If set, this value takes precedence.

    • Add the URL in an environment_url.txt file at the root of your project. This is useful for testing in dynamic environments. To run DAST against an application dynamically created during a GitLab CI/CD pipeline, a job that runs prior to the DAST scan must persist the application's domain in an environment_url.txt file. DAST automatically parses the environment_url.txt file to find its scan target.

      For example, in a job that runs prior to DAST, you could include code that looks similar to:

      script:
  - echo http://${CI_PROJECT_ID}-${CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG}.domain.com > environment_url.txt
artifacts:
  paths: [environment_url.txt]
  when: always

      You can see an example of this in our Auto DevOps CI YAML file.

The included template creates a dast job in your CI/CD pipeline and scans your project's running application for possible vulnerabilities.

The results are saved as a DAST report artifact that you can later download and analyze. Due to implementation limitations, we always take the latest DAST artifact available. Behind the scenes, the GitLab DAST Docker image is used to run the tests on the specified URL and scan it for possible vulnerabilities.

By default, the DAST template uses the latest major version of the DAST Docker image. Using the DAST_VERSION variable, you can choose how DAST updates:

  • Automatically update DAST with new features and fixes by pinning to a major version (such as 1).
  • Only update fixes by pinning to a minor version (such as 1.6).
  • Prevent all updates by pinning to a specific version (such as 1.6.4).

Find the latest DAST versions on the Releases page.

Configure DAST using the UI

You can enable or configure DAST settings using the UI. The generated settings are formatted so they can be conveniently pasted into the .gitlab-ci.yml file.

  1. From the project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Enable DAST or Configure DAST.
  3. Select the desired Scanner profile, or select Create scanner profile and save a scanner profile. For more details, see scanner profiles.
  4. Select the desired Site profile, or select Create site profile and save a site profile. For more details, see site profiles.
  5. Select Generate code snippet. A modal opens with the YAML snippet corresponding to the options you selected.
  6. Do one of the following:
    1. Select Copy code only to copy the snippet to your clipboard.
    2. Select Copy code and open .gitlab-ci.yml file to copy the snippet to your clipboard. The CI/CD Editor then opens.
      1. Paste the snippet into the .gitlab-ci.yml file.
      2. Select the Lint tab to confirm the edited .gitlab-ci.yml file is valid.
      3. Select Commit changes.

Crawling web applications dependent on JavaScript

GitLab has released a new browser-based crawler, an add-on to DAST that uses a browser to crawl web applications for content. This crawler replaces the standard DAST Spider and Ajax Crawler, and uses the same authentication mechanisms as a normal DAST scan.

The browser-based crawler crawls websites by browsing web pages as a user would. This approach works well with web applications that make heavy use of JavaScript, such as Single Page Applications.

For more details, including setup instructions, see DAST browser-based crawler.

Full scan

DAST can be configured to perform ZAP Full Scan, which includes both passive and active scanning against the same target website:

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED: "true"

If your DAST job exceeds the job timeout and you need to reduce the scan duration, we shared some tips for optimizing DAST scans in a blog post.

API scan

Using an API specification as a scan's target is a useful way to seed URLs for scanning an API. Vulnerability rules in an API scan are different than those in a normal website scan.

A new DAST API scanning engine is available in GitLab 13.12 and later. For more details, see DAST API scanning engine. The new scanning engine supports REST, SOAP, GraphQL, and generic APIs using forms, XML, and JSON. Testing can be performed using OpenAPI, Postman Collections, and HTTP Archive (HAR) documents.

The target API instance’s base URL is provided by using the DAST_API_TARGET_URL variable or an environment_url.txt file.

Specification format

API scans support OpenAPI V2 and OpenAPI V3 specifications. You can define these specifications using JSON or YAML.

Import API specification from a URL

If your API specification is accessible at a URL, you can pass that URL in directly as the target. The specification does not have to be hosted on the same host as the API being tested.

include:
  - template: DAST-API.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_API_OPENAPI: http://my.api/api-specification.yml

Import API specification from a file

If your API specification file is in your repository, you can provide its filename as the target. The API specification file must be in the /zap/wrk directory.

dast:
  before_script:
    - mkdir -p /zap/wrk
    - cp api-specification.yml /zap/wrk/api-specification.yml
  variables:
    GIT_STRATEGY: fetch
    DAST_API_OPENAPI: api-specification.yml

Full API scan

API scans support full scanning, which can be enabled by using the DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED CI/CD variable. Domain validation is not supported for full API scans.

Host override

Specifications often define a host, which contains a domain name and a port. The host referenced may be different than the host of the API's review instance. This can cause incorrect URLs to be imported, or a scan on an incorrect host. Use the DAST_API_HOST_OVERRIDE CI/CD variable to override these values.

WARNING: When using the API host override feature, you cannot use the $DAST_WEBSITE variable to override the hostname. A host override is only supported when importing the API specification from a URL. Attempts to override the host throw an error when the API specification is imported from a file. This is due to a limitation in the ZAP OpenAPI extension.

For example, with a OpenAPI V3 specification containing:

servers:
  - url: https://api.host.com

If the test version of the API is running at https://api-test.host.com, then the following DAST configuration can be used:

include:
  - template: DAST-API.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_API_OPENAPI: http://api-test.host.com/api-specification.yml
  DAST_API_HOST_OVERRIDE: api-test.host.com

Authentication using headers

Tokens in request headers are often used as a way to authenticate API requests. You can achieve this by using the DAST_REQUEST_HEADERS CI/CD variable. Headers are applied to every request DAST makes.

include:
  - template: DAST-API.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_API_OPENAPI: http://api-test.api.com/api-specification.yml
  DAST_REQUEST_HEADERS: "Authorization: Bearer my.token"

URL scan

A URL scan allows you to specify which parts of a website are scanned by DAST.

Define the URLs to scan

URLs to scan can be specified by either of the following methods:

  • Use DAST_PATHS_FILE CI/CD variable to specify the name of a file containing the paths.
  • Use DAST_PATHS variable to list the paths.
Use DAST_PATHS_FILE CI/CD variable

Introduced in GitLab 13.6.

To define the URLs to scan in a file, create a plain text file with one path per line.

page1.html
/page2.html
category/shoes/page1.html

To scan the URLs in that file, set the CI/CD variable DAST_PATHS_FILE to the path of that file. The file can be checked into the project repository or generated as an artifact by a job that runs before DAST.

By default, DAST scans do not clone the project repository. Instruct the DAST job to clone the project by setting GIT_STRATEGY to fetch. Give a file path relative to CI_PROJECT_DIR to DAST_PATHS_FILE.

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  GIT_STRATEGY: fetch
  DAST_PATHS_FILE: url_file.txt  # url_file.txt lives in the root directory of the project
Use DAST_PATHS CI/CD variable

Introduced in GitLab 13.4.

To specify the paths to scan in a CI/CD variable, add a comma-separated list of the paths to the DAST_PATHS variable. Note that you can only scan paths of a single host.

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_PATHS: "/page1.html,/category1/page1.html,/page3.html"

When using DAST_PATHS and DAST_PATHS_FILE, note the following:

  • DAST_WEBSITE must be defined when using either DAST_PATHS_FILE or DAST_PATHS. The paths listed in either use DAST_WEBSITE to build the URLs to scan
  • Spidering is disabled when DAST_PATHS or DAST_PATHS_FILE are defined
  • DAST_PATHS_FILE and DAST_PATHS can not be used together
  • The DAST_PATHS variable has a limit of about 130kb. If you have a list or paths greater than this, use DAST_PATHS_FILE.

Full Scan

To perform a full scan on the listed paths, use the DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED CI/CD variable.

List URLs scanned

When DAST completes scanning, the merge request page states the number of URLs scanned. Click View details to view the web console output which includes the list of scanned URLs.

DAST Widget

View details of a vulnerability detected by DAST

Introduced in GitLab Ultimate 13.1.

Vulnerabilities detected by DAST occur in the live web application. Addressing these types of vulnerabilities requires specific information. DAST provides the information required to investigate and rectify the underlying cause.

To view details of vulnerabilities detected by DAST:

  1. To see all vulnerabilities detected, either:

    • Go to your project and select Security & Compliance.
    • Go to the merge request and select the Security tab.

  2. Select a vulnerability's description. The following details are provided:

    Field Description
    Description Description of the vulnerability.
    Project Namespace and project in which the vulnerability was detected.
    Method HTTP method used to detect the vulnerability.
    URL URL at which the vulnerability was detected.
    Request Headers Headers of the request.
    Response Status Response status received from the application.
    Response Headers Headers of the response received from the application.
    Evidence Evidence of the data found that verified the vulnerability. Often a snippet of the request or response, this can be used to help verify that the finding is a vulnerability.
    Identifiers Identifiers of the vulnerability.
    Severity Severity of the vulnerability.
    Scanner Type Type of vulnerability report.
    Links Links to further details of the detected vulnerability.
    Solution Details of a recommended solution to the vulnerability (optional).

Customize DAST settings

You can customize the behavior of DAST using both CI/CD variables and command-line options. Use of CI/CD variables overrides the values contained in the DAST template.

Customize DAST using CI/CD variables

WARNING: Beginning in GitLab 13.0, the use of only and except is no longer supported. You must use rules instead.

The DAST settings can be changed through CI/CD variables by using the variables parameter in .gitlab-ci.yml. For details of all DAST CI/CD variables, read Available CI/CD variables.

For example:

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com
  DAST_SPIDER_MINS: 120

Because the template is evaluated before the pipeline configuration, the last mention of the variable takes precedence.

Enable or disable rules

A complete list of the rules that DAST uses to scan for vulnerabilities can be found in the ZAP documentation.

DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES disables the rules with the given IDs.

DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES restricts the set of rules used in the scan to those with the given IDs.

DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES and DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES are mutually exclusive and a DAST scan with both configured exits with an error.

By default, several rules are disabled because they either take a long time to run or frequently generate false positives. The complete list of disabled rules can be found in exclude_rules.yml.

The lists for DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES and DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES must be enclosed in double quotes ("), otherwise they are interpreted as numeric values.

Hide sensitive information

Introduced in GitLab 13.1.

HTTP request and response headers may contain sensitive information, including cookies and authorization credentials. By default, the following headers are masked:

  • Authorization.
  • Proxy-Authorization.
  • Set-Cookie (values only).
  • Cookie (values only).

Using the DAST_MASK_HTTP_HEADERS CI/CD variable, you can list the headers whose values you want masked. For details on how to mask headers, see Customizing the DAST settings.

Available CI/CD variables

These CI/CD variables are specific to DAST. They can be used to customize the behavior of DAST to your requirements.

CI/CD variable Type Description
DAST_ADVERTISE_SCAN boolean Set to true to add a Via header to every request sent, advertising that the request was sent as part of a GitLab DAST scan. Introduced in GitLab 14.1.
DAST_AGGREGATE_VULNERABILITIES boolean Vulnerability aggregation is set to true by default. To disable this feature and see each vulnerability individually set to false. Introduced in GitLab 14.0.
DAST_API_HOST_OVERRIDE 1 string Used to override domains defined in API specification files. Only supported when importing the API specification from a URL. Example: example.com:8080.
DAST_API_OPENAPI URL or string The API specification to import. The specification can be hosted at a URL, or the name of a file present in the /zap/wrk directory. The variable DAST_WEBSITE must be specified if this is omitted.
DAST_API_SPECIFICATION 1 URL or string Deprecated in GitLab 13.12 and replaced by DAST_API_OPENAPI. To be removed in GitLab 15.0. The API specification to import. The specification can be hosted at a URL, or the name of a file present in the /zap/wrk directory. The variable DAST_WEBSITE must be specified if this is omitted.
DAST_AUTH_REPORT 2 boolean Used in combination with exporting the gl-dast-debug-auth-report.html artifact to aid in debugging authentication issues.
DAST_AUTH_EXCLUDE_URLS 2 URLs {warning} Removed in GitLab 14.0. Replaced by DAST_EXCLUDE_URLS. The URLs to skip during the authenticated scan; comma-separated. Regular expression syntax can be used to match multiple URLs. For example, .* matches an arbitrary character sequence. Not supported for API scans.
DAST_AUTH_URL 1,2 URL The URL of the page containing the sign-in HTML form on the target website. DAST_USERNAME and DAST_PASSWORD are submitted with the login form to create an authenticated scan. Not supported for API scans. Example: https://login.example.com.
DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_LOGIN_FORM 2 boolean Verifies successful authentication by checking for the lack of a login form once the login form has been submitted.
DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_SELECTOR 2 selector Verifies successful authentication by checking for presence of a selector once the login form has been submitted. Example: css:.user-photo.
DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_URL 1,2 URL A URL only accessible to logged in users that DAST can use to confirm successful authentication. If provided, DAST exits if it cannot access the URL. Example: "http://example.com/loggedin_page". Introduced in GitLab 13.8.
DAST_AUTO_UPDATE_ADDONS boolean ZAP add-ons are pinned to specific versions in the DAST Docker image. Set to true to download the latest versions when the scan starts. Default: false.
DAST_BROWSER_PATH_TO_LOGIN_FORM 1,2 selector Comma-separated list of selectors that will be clicked on prior to attempting to enter DAST_USERNAME and DAST_PASSWORD into the login form. Example: "css:.navigation-menu,css:.login-menu-item". Introduced in GitLab 14.1.
DAST_DEBUG 1 boolean Enable debug message output. Default: false. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES string Set to a comma-separated list of Vulnerability Rule IDs to exclude them from running during the scan. Rule IDs are numbers and can be found from the DAST log or on the ZAP project. For example, HTTP Parameter Override has a rule ID of 10026. Cannot be used when DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES is set. Note: In earlier versions of GitLab the excluded rules were executed but vulnerabilities they generated were suppressed. Introduced in GitLab 12.10.
DAST_EXCLUDE_URLS 1,2 URLs The URLs to skip during the authenticated scan; comma-separated. Regular expression syntax can be used to match multiple URLs. For example, .* matches an arbitrary character sequence. Not supported for API scans. Example, http://example.com/sign-out.
DAST_FIRST_SUBMIT_FIELD 2 string The id or name of the element that when clicked submits the username form of a multi-page login process. For example, css:button[type='user-submit']. Introduced in GitLab 12.4.
DAST_FULL_SCAN_DOMAIN_VALIDATION_REQUIRED boolean {warning} Removed in GitLab 14.0. Set to true to require domain validation when running DAST full scans. Not supported for API scans. Default: false
DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED 1 boolean Set to true to run a ZAP Full Scan instead of a ZAP Baseline Scan. Default: false
DAST_HTML_REPORT string The filename of the HTML report written at the end of a scan. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_INCLUDE_ALPHA_VULNERABILITIES boolean Set to true to include alpha passive and active scan rules. Default: false. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_MARKDOWN_REPORT string The filename of the Markdown report written at the end of a scan. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_MASK_HTTP_HEADERS string Comma-separated list of request and response headers to be masked (GitLab 13.1). Must contain all headers to be masked. Refer to list of headers that are masked by default.
DAST_MAX_URLS_PER_VULNERABILITY number The maximum number of URLs reported for a single vulnerability. DAST_MAX_URLS_PER_VULNERABILITY is set to 50 by default. To list all the URLs set to 0. Introduced in GitLab 13.12.
DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES string Set to a comma-separated list of Vulnerability Rule IDs to configure the scan to run only them. Rule IDs are numbers and can be found from the DAST log or on the ZAP project. Cannot be used when DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES is set. Introduced in GitLab 13.12.
DAST_PASSWORD 1,2 string The password to authenticate to in the website. Example: P@55w0rd!
DAST_PASSWORD_FIELD 1,2 string The selector of password field at the sign-in HTML form. Example: id:password
DAST_PATHS string Set to a comma-separated list of URLs for DAST to scan. For example, /page1.html,/category1/page3.html,/page2.html. Introduced in GitLab 13.4.
DAST_PATHS_FILE string The file path containing the paths within DAST_WEBSITE to scan. The file must be plain text with one path per line. Introduced in GitLab 13.6.
DAST_REQUEST_HEADERS 1 string Set to a comma-separated list of request header names and values. Headers are added to every request made by DAST. For example, Cache-control: no-cache,User-Agent: DAST/1.0
DAST_SKIP_TARGET_CHECK boolean Set to true to prevent DAST from checking that the target is available before scanning. Default: false. Introduced in GitLab 13.8.
DAST_SPIDER_MINS 1 number The maximum duration of the spider scan in minutes. Set to 0 for unlimited. Default: One minute, or unlimited when the scan is a full scan. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_SPIDER_START_AT_HOST boolean Set to false to prevent DAST from resetting the target to its host before scanning. When true, non-host targets http://test.site/some_path is reset to http://test.site before scan. Default: true. Introduced in GitLab 13.6.
DAST_SUBMIT_FIELD 2 string The id or name of the element that when clicked submits the login form or the password form of a multi-page login process. For example, css:button[type='submit']. Introduced in GitLab 12.4.
DAST_TARGET_AVAILABILITY_TIMEOUT 1 number Time limit in seconds to wait for target availability.
DAST_USE_AJAX_SPIDER 1 boolean Set to true to use the AJAX spider in addition to the traditional spider, useful for crawling sites that require JavaScript. Default: false. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_USERNAME 1,2 string The username to authenticate to in the website. Example: admin
DAST_USERNAME_FIELD 1,2 string The selector of username field at the sign-in HTML form. Example: name:username
DAST_XML_REPORT string The filename of the XML report written at the end of a scan. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_WEBSITE 1 URL The URL of the website to scan. The variable DAST_API_OPENAPI must be specified if this is omitted.
DAST_ZAP_CLI_OPTIONS string ZAP server command-line options. For example, -Xmx3072m would set the Java maximum memory allocation pool size. Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
DAST_ZAP_LOG_CONFIGURATION string Set to a semicolon-separated list of additional log4j properties for the ZAP Server. Example: log4j.logger.org.parosproxy.paros.network.HttpSender=DEBUG;log4j.logger.com.crawljax=DEBUG
SECURE_ANALYZERS_PREFIX URL Set the Docker registry base address from which to download the analyzer.
  1. Available to an on-demand DAST scan.
  2. Used for authentication.

Customize DAST using command-line options

Not all DAST configuration is available via CI/CD variables. To find out all possible options, run the following configuration. Available command-line options are printed to the job log:

include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  script:
    - /analyze --help

You must then overwrite the script command to pass in the appropriate argument. For example, vulnerability definitions in alpha can be included with -a. The following configuration includes those definitions:

include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  script:
    - export DAST_WEBSITE=${DAST_WEBSITE:-$(cat environment_url.txt)}
    - /analyze -a -t $DAST_WEBSITE

Custom ZAProxy configuration

The ZAProxy server contains many useful configurable values. Many key/values for -config remain undocumented, but there is an untested list of possible keys. Note that these options are not supported by DAST, and may break the DAST scan when used. An example of how to rewrite the Authorization header value with TOKEN follows:

include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_ZAP_CLI_OPTIONS: "-config replacer.full_list(0).description=auth -config replacer.full_list(0).enabled=true -config replacer.full_list(0).matchtype=REQ_HEADER -config replacer.full_list(0).matchstr=Authorization -config replacer.full_list(0).regex=false -config replacer.full_list(0).replacement=TOKEN"

Authentication

NOTE: We highly recommend you configure the scanner to authenticate to the application. If you don't, it cannot check most of the application for security risks, as most of your application is likely not accessible without authentication. We also recommend you periodically confirm the scanner's authentication is still working, as this tends to break over time due to authentication changes to the application.

Create masked CI/CD variables to pass the credentials that DAST uses. To create masked variables for the username and password, see Create a custom variable in the UI. The key of the username variable must be DAST_USERNAME, and the key of the password variable must be DAST_PASSWORD.

After DAST has authenticated with the application, all cookies are collected from the web browser. For each cookie a matching session token is created for use by ZAP. This ensures ZAP is recognized by the application as correctly authenticated.

Authentication supports single form logins, multi-step login forms, and authenticating to URLs outside of the configured target URL.

WARNING: NEVER run an authenticated scan against a production server. When an authenticated scan is run, it may perform any function that the authenticated user can. This includes actions like modifying and deleting data, submitting forms, and following links. Only run an authenticated scan against a test server.

Log in using automatic detection of the login form

By providing a DAST_USERNAME, DAST_PASSWORD, and DAST_AUTH_URL, DAST will attempt to authenticate to the target application by locating the login form based on a determination about whether or not the form contains username or password fields.

Automatic detection is "best-effort", and depending on the application being scanned may provide either a resilient login experience or one that fails to authenticate the user.

Login process:

  1. The DAST_AUTH_URL is loaded into the browser, and any forms on the page are located.
    1. If a form contains a username and password field, DAST_USERNAME and DAST_PASSWORD is inputted into the respective fields, the form submit button is clicked and the user is logged in.
    2. If a form contains only a username field, it is assumed that the login form is multi-step.
      1. The DAST_USERNAME is inputted into the username field and the form submit button is clicked.
      2. The subsequent pages loads where it is expected that a form exists and contains a password field. If found, DAST_PASSWORD is inputted, form submit button is clicked and the user is logged in.

Log in using explicit selection of the login form

By providing a DAST_USERNAME_FIELD, DAST_PASSWORD_FIELD, and DAST_SUBMIT_FIELD, in addition to the fields required for automatic login, DAST will attempt to authenticate to the target application by locating the login form based on the selectors provided. Most applications will benefit from this approach to authentication.

Login process:

  1. The DAST_AUTH_URL is loaded into the browser, and any forms on the page are located.
    1. If the DAST_FIRST_SUBMIT_FIELD is not defined, then DAST_USERNAME is inputted into DAST_USERNAME_FIELD, DAST_PASSWORD is inputted into DAST_PASSWORD_FIELD, DAST_SUBMIT_FIELD is clicked and the user is logged in.
    2. If the DAST_FIRST_SUBMIT_FIELD is defined, then it is assumed that the login form is multi-step.
      1. The DAST_USERNAME is inputted into the DAST_USERNAME_FIELD field and the DAST_FIRST_SUBMIT_FIELD is clicked.
      2. The subsequent pages loads where the DAST_PASSWORD is inputted into the DAST_PASSWORD_FIELD field, the DAST_SUBMIT_FIELD is clicked and the user is logged in.

Verifying successful login

Once the login form has been submitted, DAST determines if the login was successful. Unsuccessful attempts at authentication cause the scan to halt.

Following the submission of the login form, authentication is determined to be unsuccessful when:

  • A 400 or 500 series HTTP response status code is returned.
  • A new cookie/browser storage value determined to be sufficiently random has not been set.

In addition to these checks, the user can configure their own verification checks. Each of the following checks can be used in conjunction with one another, if none are configured by default the presence of a login form is checked.

Verifying based on the URL

When DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_URL is configured, the URL displayed in the browser tab post login form submission is directly compared to the URL in the CI/CD variable. If these are not exactly the same, authentication is deemed to be unsuccessful.

For example:

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  variables:
    DAST_WEBSITE: "https://example.com"
    ...
    DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_URL: "https://example.com/user/welcome"

Verify based on presence of an element

When DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_SELECTOR is configured, the page displayed in the browser tab is searched for an element described by the selector in the CI/CD variable. If no element is found, authentication is deemed to be unsuccessful.

For example:

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  variables:
    DAST_WEBSITE: "https://example.com"
    ...
    DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_SELECTOR: "css:.welcome-user"

Verify based on presence of a login form

When DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_LOGIN_FORM is configured, the page displayed in the browser tab is searched for a form that is detected to be a login form. If any such form is found, authentication is deemed to be unsuccessful.

For example:

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  variables:
    DAST_WEBSITE: "https://example.com"
    ...
    DAST_AUTH_VERIFICATION_LOGIN_FORM: "true"

View the login form

Many web applications show the user the login form in a pop-up (modal) window. For these applications, navigating to the form requires both:

  • A starting URL.
  • A list of elements to click to display the modal window.

When DAST_BROWSER_PATH_TO_LOGIN_FORM is present, like in this example:

include:
  - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  variables:
    DAST_WEBSITE: "https://my.site.com"
    ...
    DAST_AUTH_URL: "https://my.site.com/admin"
    DAST_BROWSER_PATH_TO_LOGIN_FORM: "css:.navigation-menu,css:.login-menu-item"

DAST performs these actions:

  1. Load the DAST_AUTH_URL page, such as https://my.site.com/admin.
  2. After the page loads, DAST selects elements found by the selectors described in DAST_BROWSER_PATH_TO_LOGIN_FORM. This example opens the navigation menu and selects the login menu, to display the login modal window.
  3. To continue the authentication process, DAST fills in the username and password on the login form.

Configure the authentication debug output

It is often difficult to understand the cause of an authentication failure when running DAST in a CI/CD pipeline. To assist users in debugging authentication issues, a debug report can be generated and saved as a job artifact. This HTML report contains all steps made during the login process, along with HTTP requests and responses, the Document Object Model (DOM) and screenshots.

dast-auth-report

An example configuration where the authentication debug report is exported may look like the following:

dast:
  variables:
    DAST_WEBSITE: "https://example.com"
    ...
    DAST_AUTH_REPORT: "true"
  artifacts:
    paths: [gl-dast-debug-auth-report.html]
    when: always

Selectors

Selectors are used by CI/CD variables to specify the location of an element displayed on a page in a browser. Selectors have the format type:search string. The crawler will search for the selector using the search string based on the type.

Selector type Example Description
css css:.password-field Searches for a HTML element having the supplied CSS selector. Selectors should be as specific as possible for performance reasons.
id id:element Searches for an HTML element with the provided element ID.
name name:element Searches for an HTML element with the provided element name.
xpath xpath://input[@id="my-button"]/a Searches for a HTML element with the provided XPath. Note that XPath searches are expected to be less performant than other searches.
None provided a.click-me Defaults to searching using a CSS selector.

Find selectors with Google Chrome

Chrome DevTools element selector tool is an effective way to find a selector.

  1. Open Chrome and navigate to the page where you would like to find a selector, for example, the login page for your site.
  2. Open the Elements tab in Chrome DevTools with the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + c in macOS or Ctrl + Shift + c in Windows.
  3. Select the Select an element in the page to select it tool. search-elements
  4. Select the field on your page that you would like to know the selector for.
  5. Once the tool is active, highlight a field you wish to view the details of. highlight
  6. Once highlighted, you can see the element's details, including attributes that would make a good candidate for a selector.

In this example, the id="user_login" appears to be a good candidate. You can use this as a selector as the DAST username field by setting DAST_USERNAME_FIELD: "id:user_login".

Choose the right selector

Judicious choice of selector leads to a scan that is resilient to the application changing.

In order of preference, it is recommended to choose as selectors:

  • id fields. These are generally unique on a page, and rarely change.
  • name fields. These are generally unique on a page, and rarely change.
  • class values specific to the field, such as the selector "css:.username" for the username class on the username field.
  • Presence of field specific data attributes, such as the selector, "css:[data-username]" when the data-username field has any value on the username field.
  • Multiple class hierarchy values, such as the selector "css:.login-form .username" when there are multiple elements with class username but only one nested inside the element with the class login-form.

When using selectors to locate specific fields we recommend you avoid searching on:

  • Any id, name, attribute, class or value that is dynamically generated.
  • Generic class names, such as column-10 and dark-grey.
  • XPath searches as they are less performant than other selector searches.
  • Unscoped searches, such as those beginning with css:* and xpath://*.

Bleeding-edge vulnerability definitions

ZAP first creates rules in the alpha class. After a testing period with the community, they are promoted to beta. DAST uses beta definitions by default. To request alpha definitions, use the DAST_INCLUDE_ALPHA_VULNERABILITIES CI/CD variable as shown in the following configuration:

include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_INCLUDE_ALPHA_VULNERABILITIES: "true"

Cloning the project's repository

The DAST job does not require the project's repository to be present when running, so by default GIT_STRATEGY is set to none.

On-demand scans

An on-demand DAST scan runs outside the DevOps life cycle. Changes in your repository don't trigger the scan. You must either start it manually, or schedule it to run.

An on-demand DAST scan:

  • Can run a specific combination of a site profile and a scanner profile.
  • Is associated with your project's default branch.
  • Is saved on creation so it can be run later.

On-demand scan modes

An on-demand scan can be run in active or passive mode:

  • Passive mode is the default and runs a ZAP Baseline Scan.
  • Active mode runs a ZAP Full Scan which is potentially harmful to the site being scanned. To minimize the risk of accidental damage, running an active scan requires a validated site profile.

Run an on-demand DAST scan

Prerequisites:

You can run an on-demand scan immediately, once at a scheduled date and time or at a specified frequency:

  • Every day
  • Every week
  • Every month
  • Every 3 months
  • Every 6 months
  • Every year

To run an on-demand scan immediately, either:

To run an on-demand scan either at a scheduled date or frequency, read Schedule an on-demand scan.

Create and run an on-demand scan immediately

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > On-demand Scans in the left sidebar.
  2. Complete the Scan name and Description fields.
  3. In GitLab 13.10 and later, select the desired branch from the Branch dropdown.
  4. In Scanner profile, select a scanner profile from the dropdown.
  5. In Site profile, select a site profile from the dropdown.
  6. To run the on-demand scan immediately, select Save and run scan. Otherwise, select Save scan to run it later.

The on-demand DAST scan runs and the project's dashboard shows the results.

Run a saved on-demand scan

To run a saved on-demand scan:

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.

  2. On the left sidebar, select Security & Compliance > Configuration.

  3. Select Manage DAST scans.

  4. In the DAST Profiles row, select Manage.

  5. Select the Saved Scans tab.

  6. In the scan's row, select Run scan.

    If the branch saved in the scan no longer exists, you must first edit the scan, select a new branch, and save the edited scan.

The on-demand DAST scan runs, and the project's dashboard shows the results.

Schedule an on-demand scan

Introduced in GitLab 14.3. Deployed behind the dast_on_demand_scans_scheduler flag, disabled by default.

FLAG: On self-managed GitLab, by default this feature is not available. To make it available per user, ask an administrator to disable the dast_on_demand_scans_scheduler flag. The feature is not ready for production use.

To schedule a scan:

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.
  2. On the left sidebar, select Security & Compliance > On-demand Scans.
  3. Complete the Scan name and Description text boxes.
  4. In GitLab 13.10 and later, from the Branch dropdown list, select the desired branch.
  5. In the Scanner profile section, from the dropdown list, select a scanner profile.
  6. In the Site profile section, from the dropdown list, select a site profile.
  7. Select Schedule scan.
  8. In the Start time section, select a time zone, date, and time.
  9. From the Repeats dropdown list, select your desired frequency:
    • To run the scan once, select Never.
    • For a recurring scan, select any other option.
  10. To run the on-demand scan immediately, select Save and run scan. To run it according to the schedule you set, select Save scan.

List saved on-demand scans

To list saved on-demand scans:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Select the Saved Scans tab.

View details of an on-demand scan

To view details of an on-demand scan:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Select Manage DAST scans.
  3. Select Manage in the DAST Profiles row.
  4. Select the Saved Scans tab.
  5. In the saved scan's row select More actions ({ellipsis_v}), then select Edit.

Edit an on-demand scan

To edit an on-demand scan:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Select Manage DAST scans.
  3. Select Manage in the DAST Profiles row.
  4. Select the Saved Scans tab.
  5. In the saved scan's row select More actions ({ellipsis_v}), then select Edit.
  6. Edit the form.
  7. Select Save scan.

Delete an on-demand scan

To delete an on-demand scan:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Select Manage DAST scans.
  3. Select Manage in the DAST Profiles row.
  4. Select the Saved Scans tab.
  5. In the saved scan's row select More actions ({ellipsis_v}), then select Delete.
  6. Select Delete to confirm the deletion.

Site profile

A site profile describes the attributes of a web site to scan on demand with DAST. A site profile is required for an on-demand DAST scan.

A site profile contains the following:

  • Profile name: A name you assign to the site to be scanned.
  • Site type: The type of target to be scanned, either website or API scan.
  • Target URL: The URL that DAST runs against.
  • Excluded URLs: A comma-separated list of URLs to exclude from the scan.
  • Request headers: A comma-separated list of HTTP request headers, including names and values. These headers are added to every request made by DAST.
  • Authentication:
    • Authenticated URL: The URL of the page containing the sign-in HTML form on the target website. The username and password are submitted with the login form to create an authenticated scan.
    • Username: The username used to authenticate to the website.
    • Password: The password used to authenticate to the website.
    • Username form field: The name of username field at the sign-in HTML form.
    • Password form field: The name of password field at the sign-in HTML form.

When an API site type is selected, a host override is used to ensure the API being scanned is on the same host as the target. This is done to reduce the risk of running an active scan against the wrong API.

Site profile validation

Site profile validation reduces the risk of running an active scan against the wrong website. A site must be validated before an active scan can run against it. The site validation methods are as follows:

  • Text file validation requires a text file be uploaded to the target site. The text file is allocated a name and content that is unique to the project. The validation process checks the file's content.
  • Header validation requires the header Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST be added to the target site, with a value unique to the project. The validation process checks that the header is present, and checks its value.
  • Meta tag validation requires the meta tag named gitlab-dast-validation be added to the target site, with a value unique to the project. Make sure it's added to the <head> section of the page. The validation process checks that the meta tag is present, and checks its value.

All these methods are equivalent in functionality. Use whichever is feasible.

In GitLab 14.2 and later, site profile validation happens in a CI job using the GitLab Runner.

Create a site profile

To create a site profile:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Select Manage in the DAST Profiles row.
  3. Select New > Site Profile.
  4. Complete the fields then select Save profile.

The site profile is created.

Edit a site profile

To edit an existing site profile:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. In the DAST Profiles row select Manage.
  3. Select the Site Profiles tab.
  4. In the profile's row select the More actions ({ellipsis_v}) menu, then select Edit.
  5. Edit the fields then select Save profile.

If a site profile is linked to a security policy, a user cannot edit the profile from this page. See Scan Execution Policies for more information.

Delete a site profile

To delete an existing site profile:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. In the DAST Profiles row select Manage.
  3. Select the Site Profiles tab.
  4. In the profile's row select the More actions ({ellipsis_v}) menu, then select Delete.
  5. Select Delete to confirm the deletion.

If a site profile is linked to a security policy, a user cannot delete the profile from this page. See Scan Execution Policies for more information.

Validate a site profile

Prerequisites:

  • A site profile.

To validate a site profile:

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.
  2. On the left sidebar, select Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  3. In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage scans.
  4. Select the Site Profiles tab.
  5. In the profile's row select Validate or Retry validation.
  6. Select the validation method.
    1. For Text file validation:
      1. Download the validation file listed in Step 2.
      2. Upload the validation file to the host. Upload the file to the location in Step 3 or any location you prefer.
      3. Select Validate.
    2. For Header validation:
      1. Select the clipboard icon in Step 2.
      2. Edit the header of the site to validate, and paste the clipboard content.
      3. Select the input field in Step 3 and enter the location of the header.
      4. Select Validate.
    3. For Meta tag validation:
      1. Select the clipboard icon in Step 2.
      2. Edit the content of the site to validate, and paste the clipboard content.
      3. Select the input field in Step 3 and enter the location of the meta tag.
      4. Select Validate.

The site is validated and an active scan can run against it.

If a validated site profile's target URL is edited, the site's validation status is revoked.

Retry a failed validation

If a site profile's validation fails, you can retry it by selecting the Retry validation button in the profiles list.

When loading the DAST profiles library, past failed validations are listed above the profiles list. You can also retry the validation from there by selecting the Retry validation link in the alert. You can also dismiss the alert to revoke failed validations.

Revoke a site profile's validation status

Note that all site profiles with the same URL have their validation status revoked.

To revoke a site profile's validation status:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. In the DAST Profiles row select Manage.
  3. Select Revoke validation beside the validated profile.

The site profile's validation status is revoked.

Validated site profile headers

The following are code samples of how you can provide the required site profile header in your application.

Ruby on Rails example for on-demand scan

Here's how you can add a custom header in a Ruby on Rails application:

class DastWebsiteTargetController < ActionController::Base
  def dast_website_target
    response.headers['Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST'] = '0dd79c9a-7b29-4e26-a815-eaaf53fcab1c'
    head :ok
  end
end
Django example for on-demand scan

Here's how you can add a custom header in Django:

class DastWebsiteTargetView(View):
    def head(self, *args, **kwargs):
      response = HttpResponse()
      response['Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST'] = '0dd79c9a-7b29-4e26-a815-eaaf53fcab1c'

      return response
Node (with Express) example for on-demand scan

Here's how you can add a custom header in Node (with Express):

app.get('/dast-website-target', function(req, res) {
  res.append('Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST', '0dd79c9a-7b29-4e26-a815-eaaf53fcab1c')
  res.send('Respond to DAST ping')
})

Scanner profile

  • Introduced in GitLab 13.4.
  • Added in GitLab 13.5: scan mode, AJAX spider, debug messages.

A scanner profile defines the scanner settings used to run an on-demand scan:

  • Profile name: A name you give the scanner profile. For example, "Spider_15".
  • Scan mode: A passive scan monitors all HTTP messages (requests and responses) sent to the target. An active scan attacks the target to find potential vulnerabilities.
  • Spider timeout: The maximum number of minutes allowed for the spider to traverse the site.
  • Target timeout: The maximum number of seconds DAST waits for the site to be available before starting the scan.
  • AJAX spider: Run the AJAX spider, in addition to the traditional spider, to crawl the target site.
  • Debug messages: Include debug messages in the DAST console output.

Create a scanner profile

To create a scanner profile:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. In the DAST Profiles row select Manage.
  3. Select New > Scanner Profile.
  4. Complete the form. For details of each field, see Scanner profile.
  5. Click Save profile.

Edit a scanner profile

To edit a scanner profile:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Click Manage in the DAST Profiles row.
  3. Select the Scanner Profiles tab.
  4. In the scanner's row select the More actions ({ellipsis_v}) menu, then select Edit.
  5. Edit the form.
  6. Select Save profile.

If a scanner profile is linked to a security policy, a user cannot edit the profile from this page. See Scan Execution Policies for more information.

Delete a scanner profile

To delete a scanner profile:

  1. From your project's home page, go to Security & Compliance > Configuration.
  2. Click Manage in the DAST Profiles row.
  3. Select the Scanner Profiles tab.
  4. In the scanner's row select the More actions ({ellipsis_v}) menu, then select Delete.
  5. Select Delete.

If a scanner profile is linked to a security policy, a user cannot delete the profile from this page. See Scan Execution Policies for more information.

Auditing

Introduced in GitLab 14.1.

The creation, updating, and deletion of DAST profiles, DAST scanner profiles, and DAST site profiles are included in the audit log.

Reports

The DAST tool outputs a report file in JSON format by default. However, this tool can also generate reports in Markdown, HTML, and XML. For more information, see the schema for DAST reports.

JSON

WARNING: The JSON report artifacts are not a public API of DAST and their format is expected to change in the future.

The DAST tool always emits a JSON report file called gl-dast-report.json and sample reports can be found in the DAST repository.

Other formats

Reports can also be generated in Markdown, HTML, and XML. These can be published as artifacts using the following configuration:

include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  variables:
    DAST_HTML_REPORT: report.html
    DAST_MARKDOWN_REPORT: report.md
    DAST_XML_REPORT: report.xml
  artifacts:
    paths:
      - $DAST_HTML_REPORT
      - $DAST_MARKDOWN_REPORT
      - $DAST_XML_REPORT
      - gl-dast-report.json

Optimizing DAST

By default, DAST downloads all artifacts defined by previous jobs in the pipeline. If your DAST job does not rely on environment_url.txt to define the URL under test or any other files created in previous jobs, we recommend you don't download artifacts. To avoid downloading artifacts, add the following to your .gitlab-ci.yml file:

dast:
   dependencies: []