Nmap (Network Mapper) scanner reference
You can scan your instances using Nmap, an open-source tool used for network exploration, host discovery, and security auditing.
Nmap step configuration
The recommended workflow is add an Nmap step to a Security Tests or CI Build stage and then configure it as described below. You can also configure scans programmatically by copying, pasting, and editing the YAML definition.
- UI configuration support is currently limited to a subset of scanners. Extending UI support to additional scanners is on the Harness engineering roadmap.
- Each step palette shows only the options that apply to a specific scan. If you're setting up a repository scan, for example, the UI won't show Container Image settings.
- Docker-in-Docker is not required for these steps unless you're scanning a container image. If you're scanning a repository using Bandit, for example, you don't need to set up a Background step running DinD.
- Support is currently limited to Kubernetes and Harness Cloud AMD64 build infrastructures only.
Scan settings
Scan Mode
The orchestration mode to use for the scan. The following list includes the UI and YAML values for the supported options.
- Orchestrated A fully-orchestrated scan. A Security step in the Harness pipeline orchestrates a scan and then normalizes and compresses the results.
- Ingestion Ingestion scans are not orchestrated. The Security step ingest results from a previous scan (for a scan run in an previous step) and then normallizes and compresses the results.
Scan Configuration
The predefined configuration to use for the scan. All scan steps have at least one configuration.
Accepted values(s):
- Default Run a scan with the following CLI flags to support most common use cases:
-sS -sU -T4 -A -v -PE -PP -PS80,443 -PA3389 -PU40125 -PY -g 53 –script "default"
- No Default CLI Flags Run a scan with no CLI flags. This is useful when you want to set up a highly customized scan with your own flags in the Additional CLI flags field.
- Firewall Bypass
- Unusual Port
- SMB Security Mode
- Vuln
- Exploit
Target Settings
Type
- Instance Scan a running application.
Name
The Identifier that you want to assign to the target you’re scanning in the pipeline. Use a unique, descriptive name such as codebaseAlpha
or jsmith/myalphaservice
.
Variant
An identifier for a specific variant to scan, such as the branch name or image tag. This identifier is used to differentiate or group results for a target. Harness maintains a historical trend for each variant.
Instance settings
Domain
Domain of the application instance to scan. You can include the full path to the app in this field, or split the full path between the Domain and the Path fields. Example: https://myapp.io/portal/us
Protocol
HTTPS (default) or HTTP.
Port
The TCP port used by the scanned app instance.
Path
Path to append to the application instance domain, if you're splitting the full path between the Domain and Path settings. For example, you might specify the domain as https://myapp.io
and the path as /portal/us
.
Log Level, CLI flags, and Fail on Severity
Log Level
The minimum severity of the messages you want to include in your scan logs. You can specify one of the following:
- DEBUG
- INFO
- WARNING
- ERROR
Additional CLI Flags
You can use this field to run the Nmap scanner with specific command-line arguments. For example, you can include IPv6 tests as follows: tool_args
= -6
Fail on Severity
Every Security step has a Fail on Severity setting. If the scan finds any vulnerability with the specified severity level or higher, the pipeline fails automatically. You can specify one of the following:
CRITICAL
HIGH
MEDIUM
LOW
INFO
NONE
— Do not fail on severity
The YAML definition looks like this: fail_on_severity : critical # | high | medium | low | info | none
Additional Configuration
In the Additional Configuration settings, you can use the following options:
Advanced settings
In the Advanced settings, you can use the following options:
Security step settings (deprecated)
You can set up Nmap scans using a Security step: create a CI Build or Security Tests stage, add a Security step, and then add the setting:value
pairs as specified below.
Security step dialog box
Here's an example of how to set up a scan in a Security step. scan_type
and policy_type
are scanner-specific; the other settings are common to scans of container images.

product_name
=nmap
scan_type
=instance
policy_type
=orchestratedScan
oringestionOnly
product_config_name
- Accepted values(s):
tool_args
— You can use this field to run the Nmap scanner with specific command-line arguments. For example, you can include IPv6 tests as follows:tool_args
=-6
fail_on_severity
- See Fail on Severity.
Instance scan settings
The following settings apply to Security steps where the scan_type
is instance
.
instance_identifier
(required)instance_environment
(required)instance_domain
instance_path
instance_protocol
instance_port
instance_username
The username for authenticating with the external scanner.instance_password
You should create a Harness text secret with your encrypted password and reference the secret using the format<+secrets.getValue(project.container-access-id>
. For more information, go to Add and reference text secrets.
Ingestion scan settings
The following settings are required for Security steps where the policy_type
is ingestionOnly
.
target name
The Identifier that you want to assign to the target you’re scanning in the pipeline. Use a unique, descriptive name such as codebaseAlpha or jsmith/myalphaservice.variant
An identifier for a specific target to scan, such as the branch name or image tag. This identifier is used to differentiate or group results for a target. Harness maintains a historical trend for each variant.ingestion_file
The results data file to use when running an Ingestion scan. You should specify the full path to the data file in your workspace, such as/shared/customer_artifacts/my_scan_results.json
.
The following steps outline the general workflow for ingesting scan data into your pipeline:
Specify a shared folder for your scan results, such as
/shared/customer_artifacts
. You can do this in the Overview tab of the Security stage where you're ingesting your data.Create a Run step that copies your scan results to the shared folder. You can run your scan externally, before you run the build, or set up the Run step to run the scan and then copy the results.
Add a Security step after the Run step and add the
target name
,variant
, andingestion_file
settings as described above.
For a complete workflow description and example, go to Ingest Scan Results into an STO Pipeline.