audit-ci

What is audit-ci?

audit-ci is an npm package that helps you run security audits on your project's dependencies. It integrates with CI/CD pipelines to ensure that vulnerabilities are caught and addressed before they make it to production.

What are audit-ci's main functionalities?

Run Security Audits

This command runs a security audit on your project's dependencies and reports any vulnerabilities found.

npx audit-ci

Set Severity Levels

This command runs a security audit and only fails if vulnerabilities of 'low' severity or higher are found.

npx audit-ci --low

Whitelist Vulnerabilities

This command runs a security audit but ignores the specified vulnerability ID (12345 in this case).

npx audit-ci --allowlist 12345

JSON Output

This command runs a security audit and outputs the results in JSON format, which can be useful for further processing or logging.

npx audit-ci --json

Other packages similar to audit-ci

npm-audit

npm-audit is a built-in npm command that performs a security audit of your project's dependencies. It provides similar functionality to audit-ci but lacks some of the CI/CD integration features.

snyk

Snyk is a comprehensive security tool that not only audits your dependencies but also provides fixes and continuous monitoring. It offers more features compared to audit-ci but may require a subscription for advanced functionalities.

README

audit-ci

This module is intended to be consumed by your favourite continuous integration tool to halt execution if npm audit, yarn audit, or pnpm audit finds vulnerabilities at or above the specified threshold while ignoring allowlisted advisories.

Note: Use our codemod to update to audit-ci v6.0.0

Requirements

• Node >=16
• (Optional) Yarn ^1.12.3 || Yarn >=2.4.0 && <4.0.0
• (Optional) PNPM >=4.3.0
• (Optional) Bun

Limitations

• Yarn Classic workspaces does not audit devDependencies. See this issue for more information.
• Yarn v4 is not supported because it provides similar functionality to audit-ci. For more information, see the documentation on yarn npm audit. If you'd like audit-ci to support Yarn v4, voice your opinion on this issue.
• Bun is supported by exporting the bun.lockb into a Yarn v1 yarn.lock file. Accordingly, auditing a bun.lockb file with audit-ci requires Yarn v1.

Set up

(Recommended) Install audit-ci during your CI environment using npx, yarn dlx, or pnpm dlx immediately after checking out the project's repository.

# Use the option for your project's package manager, pinning to a major version to avoid breaking changes
npx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc
yarn dlx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc
pnpm dlx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc

Alternatively, audit-ci can be installed as a devDependency. The downside of this approach is that the CI may run a postinstall script of a compromised package before running audit-ci.

# Use the option for your project's package manager
npm install -D audit-ci
yarn add -D audit-ci
pnpm install -D audit-ci
bun install -D audit-ci

The next section gives examples using audit-ci in various CI environments. It assumes moderate, high, and critical severity vulnerabilities prevent build continuation. Also, it suppresses an advisory of axios and a transitive advisory of react-scripts.

// audit-ci.jsonc
{
  // $schema provides code completion hints to IDEs.
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  "moderate": true,
  "allowlist": [
    // Axios denial of service https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m
    "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m",
    // The following are for the latest create-react-app
    // https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr
    // Alternatively, allowlist "GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr" to suppress this nth-check advisory across all paths
    // or "*|react-scripts>*" to suppress advisories for all transitive dependencies of "react-scripts".
    "GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr|react-scripts>@svgr/webpack>@svgr/plugin-svgo>svgo>css-select>nth-check",
  ],
}

Bun

Bun supports exporting the bun.lockb into a Yarn v1 yarn.lock file.

bun install -y

Afterwards, you can run audit-ci with the yarn package manager.

Allowlisting

Allowlists are a mechanism to suppress an advisory warning from the audit. A team may want to suppress an advisory when:

• A fix has already been started
• There is no bandwidth to fix the advisory
• The risk is tolerable for the project
• The advisory is inaccurate or incorrect
• The vulnerable code is not actually used

An allowlist may contain multiple allowlist records. There are three categories of allowlist record formats:

• module allowlist record (example: axios, suppresses all advisories directly caused by axios, not transitive advisories)
• advisory allowlist record (example: GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m, suppresses all instances of advisory based on the GitHub advisory identifier)
• path allowlist record (example: GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr|react-scripts>@svgr/webpack>@svgr/plugin-svgo>svgo>css-select>nth-check, the specific and full advisory path with wildcard support)

When audit-ci identifies new advisories at or above the configured level, the CI pipeline will fail.

Found vulnerable advisory paths:
GHSA-pw2r-vq6v-hr8c|axios>follow-redirects
GHSA-74fj-2j2h-c42q|axios>follow-redirects
GHSA-4w2v-q235-vp99|axios
GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m|axios
GHSA-cph5-m8f7-6c5x|axios
Failed security audit due to high, moderate vulnerabilities.
Vulnerable advisories are:
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-pw2r-vq6v-hr8c
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-74fj-2j2h-c42q
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4w2v-q235-vp99
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-cph5-m8f7-6c5x
Exiting...

Advisories can be suppressed using several approaches. Each approach is useful in unique scenarios.

First, the most granular and secure approach, using paths. If in the future the same advisory arises with a different path, the pipeline will fail.

"allowlist": [
  "GHSA-pw2r-vq6v-hr8c|axios>follow-redirects",
  "GHSA-74fj-2j2h-c42q|axios>follow-redirects",
  "GHSA-4w2v-q235-vp99|axios",
  "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m|axios",
  "GHSA-cph5-m8f7-6c5x|axios"
]

The next best approach is suppressing the advisories using advisory IDs. This approach may be useful if your team knows that the application is not (and will not be) affected by the advisory regardless of the path. Often, the same advisory can be present in many paths. Allowlisting by advisory ID is terser than the alternative of listing all paths.

"allowlist": [
  "GHSA-pw2r-vq6v-hr8c",
  "GHSA-74fj-2j2h-c42q",
  "GHSA-4w2v-q235-vp99",
  "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m",
  "GHSA-cph5-m8f7-6c5x"
]

The next approach is to allowlist the modules themselves. All current and future advisories are automatically suppressed when using module allowlist records. Compared to other suppression approaches, there's an increased risk of a new advisory impacting your application due to the broad suppression. Suppressing via a module allowlist record is often less useful than using path allowlist records + wildcards, as noted in the final approach.

"allowlist": [
  "axios",
  "follow-redirects"
]

Finally, wildcards can be used within path allowlist records. Wildcards are useful for trusted development-only dependencies such as react-scripts. Unlike the module allowlist record of react-scripts, the path allowlist of *|react-scripts>* suppresses transitive dependency advisories (dependencies of dependencies).

Wildcard matching works by:

1. splitting the allowlist record at every wildcard
2. constructing a regex matching anything at each wildcard location

An allowlist record may include any number of wildcards such as *|react-scripts>*>*>example>*.

Allowlist Formats

The simplest way to add an advisory to the allowlist is using a string:

"allowlist": [
  "axios"
]

You can also use an object notation (NSPRecord) in which you can add notes and control the expiration of this exception:

"allowlist": [
  {
    "axios": {
      "active": true,
      "notes": "Ignore this until November 20th",
      "expiry": "20 November 2022 11:00"
    }
  }
]

allowlist supports both formats at the same time, so feel free to mix and match:

"allowlist": [
  {
    "axios": {
      "active": true,
      "notes": "Ignore this until November 20th",
      "expiry": "20 November 2022 11:00"
    }
  },
  "base64url"
]

NSPRecord Fields

Attribute	Type	Description	Example
active	boolean	Whether the exception is active or not	true
expiry	string | number	Human-readable date, or milliseconds since the UNIX Epoch	- '2020-01-31' - '2020/01/31' - '01/31/2021, 11:03:58' - '1 March 2016 15:00' - '1 March 2016 3:00 pm' - '2012-01-26T13:51:50.417-07:00' - 'Sun, 11 Jul 2021 03:03:13 GMT' - 'Thu Jan 26 2017 11:00:00 GMT+1100 (Australian Eastern Daylight Time)' - 327611110417
notes	string	Notes related to the vulnerability.

GitHub Actions

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v2
  - name: Audit for vulnerabilities
    run: npx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc

(Recommended) Run audit-ci immediately after checking out the git repository to reduce the risk of executing a postinstall script from a compromised NPM package.

CircleCI

# ... excludes set up for job
steps:
  - checkout
  - run:
      name: update-npm
      command: "sudo npm install -g npm"
  - restore_cache:
      key: dependency-cache-{{ checksum "package.json" }}
  # This should run immediately after cloning
  # the risk of executing a script from a compromised NPM package.
  # If you use a pull-request-only workflow,
  # it's better to not run audit-ci on `main` and only run it on pull requests.
  # For more info: https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/issues/69
  # For a PR-only workflow, use the below command instead of the above command:
  #
  # command: if [[ ! -z $CIRCLE_PULL_REQUEST ]] ; then npx audit-ci --config ./audit-ci.jsonc ; fi
  - run:
      name: run-audit-ci
      command: npx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc
  - run:
      name: install-npm
      command: "npm install --no-audit"

Travis-CI

Auditing only on PR builds is recommended

scripts:
  # This script should be the first that runs to reduce the risk of
  # executing a script from a compromised NPM package.
  - if [ "${TRAVIS_PULL_REQUEST}" != "false" ]; then npx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc; fi

For Travis-CI not using PR builds:

scripts:
  - npx audit-ci@^7 --config ./audit-ci.jsonc

Options

(Recommended) Prefer to use a JSONC or JSON5 config file for audit-ci over managing your config with CLI arguments. Using a config file supports workflows such as documenting your allowlist, centralized and easier config management, and code completion when using the $schema field.

Args	Alias	Description
-l	--low	Prevents integration with low or higher vulnerabilities (default false)
-m	--moderate	Prevents integration with moderate or higher vulnerabilities (default false)
-h	--high	Prevents integration with high or critical vulnerabilities (default false)
-c	--critical	Prevents integration only with critical vulnerabilities (default false)
-p	--package-manager	Choose a package manager [choices: auto, npm, yarn, pnpm] (default auto)
-a	--allowlist	Vulnerable modules, advisories, and paths to allowlist from preventing integration (default none)
-o	--output-format	The format of the output of audit-ci [choices: text, json] (default text)
-d	--directory	The directory containing the package.json to audit (default ./)
	--pass-enoaudit	Pass if no audit is performed due to the registry returning ENOAUDIT (default false)
	--show-found	Show allowlisted advisories that are found (default true)
	--show-not-found	Show allowlisted advisories that are not found (default true)
	--registry	The registry to resolve packages by name and version for auditing (default to unspecified)
	--report-type	Format for the audit report results [choices: important, summary, full] (default important)
	--retry-count	The number of attempts audit-ci calls an unavailable registry before failing (default 5)
	--config	Path to the audit-ci configuration file
	--skip-dev	Skip auditing devDependencies (default false)
	--extra-args	Extra arguments to pass to the underlying audit command (default: [])

Config file specification

A config file can manage auditing preferences for audit-ci. The config file's keys match the CLI arguments.

{
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  // Only use one of ["low": true, "moderate": true, "high": true, "critical": true]
  "low": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `false`
  "moderate": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `false`
  "high": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `false`
  "critical": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `false`
  "allowlist": <(string | [NSPRecord](#nsprecord-fields))[]>, // [Optional] default `[]`
  "report-type": <string>, // [Optional] defaults `important`
  "package-manager": <string>, // [Optional] defaults `"auto"`
  "output-format": <string>, // [Optional] defaults `"text"`
  "pass-enoaudit": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `false`
  "show-found": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `true`
  "show-not-found": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `true`
  "registry": <string>, // [Optional] defaults `undefined`
  "retry-count": <number>, // [Optional] defaults 5
  "skip-dev": <boolean>, // [Optional] defaults `false`
  "extra-args": <string>[] // [Optional] defaults `[]`
}

Refrain from using "directory" within the config file because directory is relative to where the command is run, rather than the directory where the config file exists.

Examples

Prevents build on moderate, high, or critical vulnerabilities with allowlist; ignores low

With a JSONC config file, execute with npx audit-ci --config ./audit-ci.jsonc.

// audit-ci.jsonc
{
  // $schema provides code completion hints to IDEs.
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  "moderate": true,
  "allowlist": [
    // Axios denial of service https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m
    "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m",
    // The following are for the latest create-react-app
    // https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr
    // Alternatively, allowlist "GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr" to suppress this nth-check advisory across all paths
    // or "*|react-scripts>*" to suppress advisories for all transitive dependencies of "react-scripts".
    "GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr|react-scripts>@svgr/webpack>@svgr/plugin-svgo>svgo>css-select>nth-check",
  ],
}

Or, with the CLI:

npx audit-ci -m -a "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m" "GHSA-rp65-9cf3-cjxr|react-scripts>@svgr/webpack>@svgr/plugin-svgo>svgo>css-select>nth-check"

Prevents build on any vulnerability except advisory "GHSA-38f5-ghc2-fcmv" and all of lodash and base64url, don't show allowlisted

With a JSON5 config file:

// JSON5 files support trailing commas and more succinct syntax than JSONC files.
{
  $schema: "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  low: true,
  allowlist: ["GHSA-38f5-ghc2-fcmv", "lodash", "base64url"],
  "show-found": false,
}

Or, with the CLI with yarn dlx:

yarn dlx audit-ci@^7 -l -a "GHSA-38f5-ghc2-fcmv" lodash base64url --show-found false

Prevents build with critical vulnerabilities showing the full report

With a JSONC config file:

{
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  "critical": true,
  "report-type": "full",
}

Or, with the CLI with pnpm dlx:

pnpm dlx audit-ci@^7 --critical --report-type full

Continues build regardless of vulnerabilities, but show the summary report

With a JSONC config file:

{
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  "report-type": "summary",
}

Or, with the CLI:

npx audit-ci@^7 --report-type summary

Pass additional args to Yarn Berry to exclude a certain package from audit

With a JSONC config file, in a project on Yarn Berry v3.3.0 or later:

{
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  "extra-args": ["--exclude", "example"],
}

Or, with the CLI:

npx audit-ci@^7 --extra-args '\--exclude' example

Example config file and different directory usage

test/npm-config-file/audit-ci.jsonc

{
  "$schema": "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  "low": true,
  "package-manager": "auto",
  "allowlist": [
    "GHSA-333w-rxj3-f55r",
    "GHSA-vfvf-mqq8-rwqc",
    "example1",
    "example2",
    "GHSA-6354-6mhv-mvv5|example3",
    "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m|example4",
    "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m|example5>example4",
    "*|example6>*",
  ],
  "registry": "https://registry.npmjs.org",
}

npx audit-ci@^7 --directory test/npm-config-file --config test/npm-config-file/audit-ci.jsonc

test/pnpm-config-file/audit-ci.json5

{
  $schema: "https://github.com/IBM/audit-ci/raw/main/docs/schema.json",
  moderate: true,
  "package-manager": "pnpm",
  allowlist: [
    "GHSA-vfvf-mqq8-rwqc",
    "example2",
    "GHSA-6354-6mhv-mvv5|example3",
    "GHSA-42xw-2xvc-qx8m|example5>example4",
    "*|example6>*",
  ],
}

npx audit-ci@^7 --directory test/pnpm-config-file --config test/pnpm-config-file/audit-ci.json5

Codemod

npx @quinnturner/audit-ci-codemod

https://github.com/quinnturner/audit-ci-codemod

audit-ci v6.0.0 changed the identifiers used for auditing from the NPM identifiers to GitHub identifiers. NPM identifiers are considered unstable to rely on, as they frequently change. Meanwhile, GitHub identifiers are stable. To accommodate for a potentially tedious migration, a codemod is available to update your configuration in-place.

$ npx @quinnturner/audit-ci-codemod
Need to install the following packages:
  @quinnturner/audit-ci-codemod
Ok to proceed? (y) y
? What's the path for the audit-ci config? audit-ci.jsonc
Performed migration from advisories, whitelist, and path-whitelist to allowlist
Performed migration from NPM advisories to GitHub advisories

Q&A

Why run audit-ci on PR builds for Travis-CI and not the push builds?

If audit-ci is run on the PR build and not on the push build, you can continue to push new code and create PRs parallel to the actual vulnerability fix. However, they can't be merged until the fix is implemented. Since audit-ci performs the audit on the PR build, it will always have the most up-to-date dependencies vs. the push build, which would require a manual merge with main before passing the audit.

What do I do when NPM/Yarn is breaking my build while returning ENOAUDIT?

The config option --pass-enoaudit allows passing if no audit is performed due to the registry returning ENOAUDIT. It is false by default to reduce the risk of merging in a vulnerable package. However, if the convenience of passing is more important for your project then you can add --pass-enoaudit into the CLI or add it to the config.