Automating Security Testing in CI/CD Pipelines

Tutorial 2 of 5

Automating Security Testing in CI/CD Pipelines

1. Introduction

This tutorial aims to guide you on how to automate security testing in Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines. You'll learn how to integrate security testing tools into your CI/CD pipeline to ensure your code is free from security vulnerabilities before deployment.

Prerequisites

Basic understanding of CI/CD pipelines.
Familiarity with any CI/CD tool (like Jenkins, CircleCI, GitLab CI, etc.).
Basic knowledge of Docker is beneficial but not mandatory.

2. Step-by-Step Guide

Security testing in a CI/CD pipeline involves integrating security testing tools into the pipeline, so they automatically scan your code for vulnerabilities whenever changes are made.

We'll use Jenkins as our CI/CD tool and OWASP ZAP (Zed Attack Proxy) as our security testing tool.

Step 1: Install and configure Jenkins on your local machine or server.

Step 2: Install the OWASP ZAP tool. You can do this by using a Docker image. Run the following command:

docker pull owasp/zap2docker-stable

Step 3: Create a new Jenkins job for your project.

Step 4: In the build step, add a shell execute command to run OWASP ZAP Docker container. Here is an example:

docker run -t owasp/zap2docker-stable zap-baseline.py -t https://www.yourwebsite.com

Replace 'https://www.yourwebsite.com' with your website's URL. The script zap-baseline.py will perform the baseline scan, which scans the website for a set of vulnerabilities.

Step 5: Save your job and run it. Jenkins will start a new OWASP ZAP Docker container and scan your website for vulnerabilities.

3. Code Examples

Here is an example of a Jenkins pipeline script that runs OWASP ZAP:

pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
        stage('Security Test') {
            steps {
                sh 'docker run -t owasp/zap2docker-stable zap-baseline.py -t https://www.yourwebsite.com'
            }
        }
    }
}

This script defines a single stage, 'Security Test'. In this stage, it runs a shell command that starts a new OWASP ZAP Docker container and scans a website for vulnerabilities.

4. Summary

In this tutorial, you've learned how to automate security testing in a CI/CD pipeline using Jenkins and OWASP ZAP. The next step is to explore other security testing tools and how to integrate them into your CI/CD pipeline.

Here are some resources for further reading:

5. Practice Exercises

Modify the Jenkins pipeline script to include both unit tests and security tests.
Experiment with different OWASP ZAP scan scripts, such as zap-full-scan.py.
Set up email notifications in Jenkins to alert you when a security vulnerability is found.

Remember, the best way to learn is by doing. Keep practicing and exploring different options to make your CI/CD pipeline more secure.