> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/security-testing-orchestration/use-sto/sto-scanner-configuration/gitleaks-scanner-reference.md). # Gitleaks step configuration You can scan your code repositories using [Gitleaks](https://github.com/gitleaks) and ingest your results into Harness STO. ### Important notes This section describes recommended best practices and references to useful information. #### Update your allowlist with inactive secrets You can specify an allowlist of secrets that are inactive, rotated, deactivated, or false positives. Gitleaks ignores these secrets during a scan. Set up your allowlist in a [.gitleaks.toml file](https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks/blob/master/config/gitleaks.toml) and place it at the root of your repository. {% hint style="info" %} It is best practice to update your allowlist with secrets that are inactive, rotated, deactivated, or false positives. Otherwise, Gitleaks will continue to detect these secrets in your commit history even after they have been updated in your code. {% endhint %} The following steps outline the recommended workflow: 1. Run a Gitleaks scan and review the detected passwords, tokens, and other secrets. 2. Rotate or deactivate all secrets that are currently active. 3. Compile a list of all secrets that are now inactive, rotated, deactivated, or false positives. 4. Update the allowlist in `.gitleaks.toml` to include these secrets. Harness recommends that you add your secrets as plain text to the `regexes` array, as shown in this example. This is the most reliable method to ensure that Gitleaks detects only active secrets when you run another scan.
.gitleaks.toml example ```toml title = "example gitleaks config" [extend] # useDefault will extend the base configuration with the default gitleaks config: # https://github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/blob/master/config/gitleaks.toml useDefault = true [allowlist] # Recommended practice is to add your secrets to a regexes array, # not to a commits array. regexTarget = "match" description = "whitelist public and test secrets" regexes = [ '''1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef''', '''abcdef1234567890abcdef1234567890''', ] ```
#### Redact secrets Harness recommends that you configure the Gitleaks step to [redact secrets in the log output](#additional-cli-flags). #### Speed up your scans To speed up your scan times, you can configure the Gitleaks step to [limit the number of commits to scan](#additional-cli-flags). By default, Gitleaks scans the entire commit history. #### Write custom detection rules You can also write your own [custom detection rules](https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks?tab=readme-ov-file#configuration). * For examples, go to the [default Gitleaks config](https://github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/blob/master/config/gitleaks.toml). * If you want to contribute to the default configuration, go to the [Contributing guidelines](https://github.com/zricethezav/gitleaks/blob/master/README.md). * For information about advanced configurations, go to [Stop leaking secrets - configuration](https://blog.gitleaks.io/stop-leaking-secrets-configuration-2-3-aeed293b1fbf). #### For more information The following topics contain useful information for setting up scanner integrations in STO: * [What's supported in STO](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/sto-whats-supported/sto-deployments.md) * [Security Testing Orchestration FAQs](/security-testing-orchestration/troubleshooting-and-resources/faqs.md) * [Optimize STO pipelines](/security-testing-orchestration/troubleshooting-and-resources/sto-use-cases/set-up-sto-pipelines/optimize-sto-pipelines.md) ### Gitleaks step settings for STO scans The recommended workflow is to add a GitLeaks step to a Security or Build stage and then configure it as described below. #### Scan Mode * **Ingestion** Configure the step to [read scan results from a data file](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/key-concepts/ingest-scan-results-into-an-sto-pipeline.md) and then ingest, normalize, and deduplicate the data. * **Orchestration** Configure the step to [run a scan](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/key-concepts/run-an-orchestrated-scan-in-sto.md) and then ingest, normalize, and deduplicate the results. #### Scan Configuration The predefined configuration to use for the scan. All scan steps have at least one configuration. #### Target **Type** * **Repository** Scan a codebase repo. In most cases, you specify the codebase using a code repo connector that connects to the Git account or repository where your code is stored. For information, go to [Configure codebase](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/codebase-configuration/create-and-configure-a-codebase.md). **Target and variant detection** When **Auto** is enabled for code repositories, the step detects these values using `git`: * To detect the target, the step runs `git config --get remote.origin.url`. * To detect the variant, the step runs `git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`. The default assumption is that the `HEAD` branch is the one you want to scan. Note the following: * **Auto** is not available when the **Scan Mode** is **Ingestion**. * By default, **Auto** is selected when you add the step. You can change this setting if needed. **Name** The identifier for the [target](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/key-concepts/targets-and-baselines.md), such as `codebaseAlpha` or `jsmith/myalphaservice`. Descriptive target names make it much easier to navigate your scan data in the STO UI. It is good practice to [specify a baseline](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/key-concepts/targets-and-baselines.md#every-target-needs-a-baseline) for every target. **Variant** The identifier for the specific variant to scan. This is usually the branch name, image tag, or product version. Harness maintains a historical trend for each variant. **Workspace (*****repository*****)** The workspace path on the pod running the scan step. The workspace path is `/harness` by default. You can override this if you want to scan only a subset of the workspace. For example, suppose the pipeline publishes artifacts to a subfolder `/tmp/artifacts` and you want to scan these artifacts only. In this case, you can specify the workspace path as `/harness/tmp/artifacts`. Additionally, you can specify individual files to scan as well. For instance, if you only want to scan a specific file like `/tmp/iac/infra.tf`, you can specify the workspace path as `/harness/tmp/iac/infra.tf` #### Ingestion File The path to your scan results when running an [Ingestion scan](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/key-concepts/ingest-scan-results-into-an-sto-pipeline.md), for example `/shared/scan_results/myscan.latest.sarif`. * The data file must be in a [supported format](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/sto-whats-supported/scanners.md#supported-ingestion-formats) for the scanner. * The data file must be accessible to the scan step. It's good practice to save your results files to a [shared path](/continuous-integration/new-to-harness-ci/key-concepts.md#stages) in your stage. In the visual editor, go to the stage where you're running the scan. Then go to **Overview** > **Shared Paths**. You can also add the path to the YAML stage definition like this: ```yaml - stage: spec: sharedPaths: - /shared/scan_results ``` #### 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 Use this field to run the [`gitleaks`](https://github.com/gitleaks/gitleaks) scanner with additional CLI flags such as: `--redact --log-opts="-n 1000"` * `--redact` redacts secrets in the log output. * `--log-opts` narrows the range of commits that Gitleaks scans in a Pull Request. For example, `-n 1000` limits the scan to the last 1000 commits. You can also scan a range of commits using a command such as: `tool_args : --log-opts=="--all commitA..commitF"` {% hint style="warning" %} Passing additional CLI flags is an advanced feature. Harness recommends the following best practices: * Test your flags and arguments thoroughly before you use them in your Harness pipelines. Some flags might not work in the context of STO. * Don't add flags that are already used in the default configuration of the scan step. To check the default configuration, go to a pipeline execution where the scan step ran with no additional flags. Check the log output for the scan step. You should see a line like this: `Command [ scancmd -f json -o /tmp/output.json ]` In this case, don't add `-f` or `-o` to **Additional CLI flags**. {% endhint %} #### Fail on Severity Every STO scan step has a **Fail on Severity** setting. If the scan finds any vulnerability with the specified [severity level](/security-testing-orchestration/new-to-sto/key-concepts/severities.md) 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` #### Settings You can use this field to specify environment variables for your scanner. You can also use this field to [speed up your Gitleaks scans](#speeding-up-gitleaks-scans). #### Additional Configuration The fields under **Additional Configuration** vary based on the type of infrastructure. Depending on the infrastructure type selected, some fields may or may not appear in your settings. Below are the details for each field * Override Security Test Image * [Container Registry](/security-testing-orchestration/troubleshooting-and-resources/sto-use-cases/set-up-sto-pipelines/configure-pipeline-to-use-sto-images-from-private-registry.md#step-level-override) * [Image Tag](/security-testing-orchestration/troubleshooting-and-resources/sto-use-cases/set-up-sto-pipelines/configure-pipeline-to-use-sto-images-from-private-registry.md#step-level-override) * [Privileged](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/background-step-settings.md#privileged) * [Image Pull Policy](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/background-step-settings.md#image-pull-policy) * [Run as User](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/background-step-settings.md#run-as-user) * [Set Container Resources](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/manage-dependencies/background-step-settings.md#set-container-resources) * [Timeout](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/run-step-settings.md#timeout) #### Advanced settings In the **Advanced** settings, you can use the following options: * [Conditional Execution](/harness-ai/use-harness-platform/pipelines/step-skip-condition-settings.md) * [Failure Strategy](/harness-ai/use-harness-platform/pipelines/failure-handling/define-a-failure-strategy-on-stages-and-steps.md) * [Looping Strategy](/harness-ai/use-harness-platform/pipelines/looping-strategies/looping-strategies-matrix-repeat-and-parallelism.md) * [Policy Enforcement](/harness-ai/use-harness-platform/governance/policy-as-code/harness-governance-overview.md) ### Configure GitLeaks as a Built-in Scanner The GitLeaks scanner is available as a [built-in scanner](/security-testing-orchestration/use-sto/set-up-sto-scans/built-in-scanners.md) in STO. Configuring it as a built-in scanner enables the step to automatically perform scans using the free version without requiring any licenses. Follow these steps to set it up: 1. Search for **Secret Detection** in the step palette or navigate to the **Built-in Scanners** section and select the **Secret Detection** step. 2. Expand the **Additional CLI Flags** section if you want to configure optional CLI flags. 3. Click **Add Scanner** to save the configuration. The scanner will automatically use the free version, detect scan targets, and can be further configured by clicking on the step whenever needed. ### Proxy settings This step supports private network connectivity if you're using Harness Cloud infrastructure. For information on connectivity options, see [Private network connectivity options](/harness-ai/use-harness-platform/references/private-network-connectivity/private-network-connectivity.md). When using proxy configurations, the `HTTPS_PROXY` and `HTTP_PROXY` variables are automatically set to route traffic through the secure tunnel. If there are specific addresses that you want to bypass the proxy, you can define those in the `NO_PROXY` variable. This can be configured in the **Settings** of your step. If you need to configure a different proxy, you can manually set the `HTTPS_PROXY`, `HTTP_PROXY`, and `NO_PROXY` variables in the **Settings** of your step. **Definitions of Proxy variables:** * `HTTPS_PROXY`: Specify the proxy server for HTTPS requests, example `https://sc.internal.harness.io:30000` * `HTTP_PROXY`: Specify the proxy server for HTTP requests, example `http://sc.internal.harness.io:30000` * `NO_PROXY`: Specify the domains as comma-separated values that should bypass the proxy. This allows you to exclude certain traffic from being routed through the proxy. ### Gitleaks step configuration example for STO Here's an example of a configured Gitleaks step. ```yaml - step: type: Gitleaks name: gitleaks identifier: gitleaks spec: mode: ingestion config: default target: name: nodegoat type: repository variant: dev advanced: log: level: debug ingestion: file: /path/of/file.sarif description: gitleaks step ``` ### Gitleaks ingestion pipeline example for STO The following pipeline shows an end-to-end ingestion workflow. The pipeline consists of a Build stage with two steps: 1. A Run step that sends a `gitleaks detect` command to the local Gitleaks container to scan the [codebase](/continuous-integration/use-harness-ci/use-harness-ci/codebase-configuration/create-and-configure-a-codebase.md) specified for the pipeline. This command specifies the output file for the scan results: `/shared/scan_results/sarif_simple.sarif`. 2. A Gitleaks step that auto-detects the data file type (SARIF) and then ingests and normalizes the data from the output file. ![](/files/Q26umFw989yhDAv6ZE2t) ```yaml pipeline: projectIdentifier: STO orgIdentifier: default tags: {} stages: - stage: name: gitleaks-build-stage identifier: gitleaksbuildstage type: CI spec: cloneCodebase: true execution: steps: - stepGroup: name: Ingestion Workflow with a runs step identifier: Generation steps: - step: type: Run name: gitleaks identifier: Run_1 spec: connectorRef: CONTAINER_IMAGE_REGISTRY_CONNECTOR image: zricethezav/gitleaks:latest shell: Sh command: | gitleaks detect --source /harness --report-path /shared/scan_results/ingest-data.sarif --report-format 'sarif' --exit-code 0 --redact -v resources: limits: memory: 2048Mi cpu: 2000m when: stageStatus: Success - step: type: Gitleaks name: gitleaks_ingest identifier: gitleaks_ingest spec: mode: ingestion config: default target: name: gitleaks-example type: repository variant: master advanced: log: level: info ingestion: file: /shared/scan_results/ingest-data.sarif sharedPaths: - /shared/scan_results caching: enabled: false paths: [] infrastructure: type: KubernetesDirect spec: connectorRef: K8S_DELEGATE_CONNECTOR namespace: harness-delegate-ng automountServiceAccountToken: true nodeSelector: {} os: Linux properties: ci: codebase: connectorRef: CODEBASE_CONNECTOR repoName: dvpwa build: <+input> identifier: Gitleaks_docsexample_INGESTION name: Gitleaks_docsexample_INGESTION ``` ### Gitleaks orchestration pipeline example for STO The following pipeline illustrates an orchestration workflow where the Gitleaks step scans the codebase and ingests the results in one step. ![](/files/aBxMpQ3k6oXQz28YJE2P) ```yaml pipeline: projectIdentifier: STO orgIdentifier: default tags: {} stages: - stage: name: gitleaks-build-stage identifier: gitleaksbuildstage type: CI spec: cloneCodebase: true execution: steps: - stepGroup: name: "STO Orchestration " identifier: Orchestration steps: - step: type: Gitleaks name: gitleaks_orch identifier: gitleaks_orch spec: mode: orchestration config: default target: name: gitleaks-example type: repository variant: master advanced: log: level: info settings: tool_args: "--log-opts=\"-n 1000\"`" resources: limits: memory: 2048Mi cpu: 2000m sharedPaths: - /shared/scan_results caching: enabled: false paths: [] infrastructure: type: KubernetesDirect spec: connectorRef: K8S_DELEGATE_CONNECTOR namespace: harness-delegate-ng automountServiceAccountToken: true nodeSelector: \{} os: Linux properties: ci: codebase: connectorRef: CODEBASE_CONNECTOR repoName: dvpwa build: <+input> identifier: gitleaks_docs_example_ORCHESTRATION name: gitleaks_docs_example_ORCHESTRATION ```