Container Security Scanning in GitHub Actions

INTRODUCTION

Hey there, cloud wizards! Ever found yourself stuck with security holes after pushing your containerized masterpiece to GitHub? Fear not; I’m here today to unravel the secrets of Container Security Scanning in GitHub Actions. It’s time we talk about keeping our code secure and compliant right from where it all starts—GitHub!

WHY THIS MATTERS

In a world where containerization is king, ensuring your deployments are as safe as they can be isn’t just important; it’s vital. Imagine you’re shipping out containers to production every single day without the due diligence of security checks—a nightmare scenario for both developers and operations teams alike! Container Security Scanning in GitHub Actions helps catch those pesky vulnerabilities before they can wreak havoc on your systems, saving time, money, and reputation.

TECHNICAL DEEP DIVE

When it comes to container security scanning within the ecosystem of Github actions, there are a few key concepts that every engineer should know:

Scanners need access to both your code repository and any publicly available API endpoints. Ensure you have proper permissions set up in GitHub Actions for this!
- Important: Always use secure methods like OAuth tokens instead of plaintext credentials when granting these permissions, as I’ll demonstrate below with a simple setup example.
Many scanners leverage the built-in capabilities of your CI/CD pipeline to integrate seamlessly without modifying existing workflows too much; however, sometimes custom configurations are necessary for complex projects or specific security requirements:
- Important: Tailor scan jobs in .github/workflows/main.yml with extra scanners as needed and ensure your CI runner (e.g., GitHub Actions Runner) has the required tools installed, like trivy. Here’s how to integrate it into a workflow for an npm package: ```yaml # .github/workflows/main.yml
  
  name: Container Security Scan on: [push]
  
  jobs: security_scan: runs-on: ubuntu-latest
```
   steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       with:
         fetchDepends: true  # Ensures all dependencies are installed for scanning. Adjust based on package manager and requirements!
           
     - name: Run Trivy Scan
       run: |
          echo "Scanning the container image..."
          trivy --exit-code non-zero exit $
```