Introduction to Dependency Check

Dependency Check is a powerful tool for identifying vulnerabilities in project dependencies. By integrating this tool into your build process, you can ensure that your project is secure from known vulnerabilities. In this article, we will explore dozens of useful APIs and provide code snippets to help you get started with Dependency Check.

Installation

To start using Dependency Check, you first need to install it. You can do this via the following command:

   npm install -g dependency-check

Basic Usage

Here’s a simple example of how to use Dependency Check:

   dependency-check . --unused --no-dev

This command will check for unused dependencies in your project and exclude development dependencies.

API Examples

Using Configuration Files

You can set up a configuration file to customize Dependency Check. Below is an example of a configuration file:

   {
     "failBuildOnCVSS": 7,
     "suppressionFile": "owasp-suppression.xml",
     "scanRetireJS": true
   }

Generating Reports

Dependency Check allows you to generate various reports. To generate an HTML report, use the following command:

   dependency-check --format HTML --out ./dependency-check-report.html

Integrating with Build Tools

You can integrate Dependency Check with popular build tools like Maven and Gradle.

For Maven:

   <plugin>
     <groupId>org.owasp</groupId>
     <artifactId>dependency-check-maven</artifactId>
     <version>6.3.2</version>
     <executions>
       <execution>
         <id>check</id>
         <goals>
           <goal>check</goal>
         </goals>
       </execution>
     </executions>
   </plugin>

For Gradle:

   plugins {
       id "org.owasp.dependencycheck" version "6.3.2"
   }
   dependencyCheck {
       failBuildOnCVSS = 7
       suppressionFile = 'owasp-suppression.xml'
       scanRetireJS = true
   }

Example Application

Let’s create a simple Node.js application with a vulnerable dependency and see how Dependency Check helps us identify it.

First, initialize a Node.js project and add the ‘express’ package:

   mkdir myapp
   cd myapp
   npm init -y
   npm install express

Next, create a simple server using Express:

   const express = require('express');
   const app = express();
   const port = 3000;

   app.get('/', (req, res) => {
     res.send('Hello, world!');
   });

   app.listen(port, () => {
     console.log(`App is running at http://localhost:${port}`);
   });

Now, run Dependency Check to find any vulnerabilities in our dependencies:

   dependency-check . --format HTML --out ./dependency-check-report.html

Open the generated report to view any vulnerabilities and take appropriate actions to secure your application.

Hash: e39ba33e39ec1de47eb83e79d1d1ca471795c892eabae988c82528c551b13de0