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Scan result policies (ULTIMATE)

You can use scan result policies to take action based on scan results. For example, one type of scan result policy is a security approval policy that allows approval to be required based on the findings of one or more security scan jobs. Scan result policies are evaluated after a CI scanning job is fully executed.

Scan result policy editor

Introduced in GitLab 14.8 with a flag named scan_result_policy. Disabled by default.

NOTE: Only project Owners have the permissions to select Security Policy Project.

Once your policy is complete, save it by selecting Create merge request at the bottom of the editor. This redirects you to the merge request on the project's configured security policy project. If a security policy project doesn't link to your project, GitLab creates such a project for you. Existing policies can also be removed from the editor interface by selecting Delete policy at the bottom of the editor.

All scan result policy changes are applied through a background job that runs once every 10 minutes. Allow up to 10 minutes for any policy changes committed to this project to take effect.

The policy editor only supports YAML mode. To follow work on Rule mode, see the epic Allow Users to Edit Rule-mode scan result policies in the Policy UI.

Scan Result Policy Editor YAML Mode

Scan result policies schema

The YAML file with scan result policies consists of an array of objects matching the scan result policy schema nested under the scan_result_policy key. You can configure a maximum of five policies under the scan_result_policy key.

When you save a new policy, GitLab validates its contents against this JSON schema. If you're not familiar with how to read JSON schemas, the following sections and tables provide an alternative.

Field Type Possible values Description
scan_result_policy array of Scan Result Policy List of scan result policies (maximum 5).

Scan result policy schema

Field Type Possible values Description
name string Name of the policy.
description (optional) string Description of the policy.
enabled boolean true, false Flag to enable (true) or disable (false) the policy.
rules array of rules List of rules that the policy applies.
actions array of actions List of actions that the policy enforces.

scan_finding rule type

This rule enforces the defined actions based on the information provided.

Field Type Possible values Description
type string scan_finding The rule's type.
branches array of string * or the branch's name The branch the given policy applies to (supports wildcard).
scanners array of string sast, secret_detection, dependency_scanning, container_scanning, dast, coverage_fuzzing, api_fuzzing The security scanners for this rule to consider.
vulnerabilities_allowed integer Greater than or equal to zero Number of vulnerabilities allowed before this rule is considered.
severity_levels array of string info, unknown, low, medium, high, critical The severity levels for this rule to consider.
vulnerability_states array of string newly_detected, detected, confirmed, resolved, dismissed The vulnerability states for this rule to consider when the target branch is set to the default branch.

require_approval action type

This action sets an approval rule to be required when conditions are met for at least one rule in the defined policy.

Field Type Possible values Description
type string require_approval The action's type.
approvals_required integer Greater than or equal to zero The number of MR approvals required.
user_approvers array of string Username of one of more users The users to consider as approvers.
user_approvers_ids array of integer ID of one of more users The IDs of users to consider as approvers.
group_approvers array of string Path of one of more groups The groups to consider as approvers.
group_approvers_ids array of integer ID of one of more groups The IDs of groups to consider as approvers.

Requirements and limitations:

  • You must add the respective security scanning tools. Otherwise, scan result policies won't have any effect.
  • The maximum number of policies is five.
  • Each policy can have a maximum of five rules.

Example security scan result policies project

You can use this example in a .gitlab/security-policies/policy.yml, as described in Security policies project:

---
scan_result_policy:
- name: critical vulnerability CS approvals
  description: critical severity level only for container scanning
  enabled: true
  rules:
  - type: scan_finding
    branches:
    - main
    scanners:
    - container_scanning
    vulnerabilities_allowed: 0
    severity_levels:
    - critical
    vulnerability_states:
    - newly_detected
  actions:
  - type: require_approval
    approvals_required: 1
    user_approvers:
    - adalberto.dare
- name: secondary CS approvals
  description: secondary only for container scanning
  enabled: true
  rules:
  - type: scan_finding
    branches:
    - main
    scanners:
    - container_scanning
    vulnerabilities_allowed: 1
    severity_levels:
    - low
    - unknown
    vulnerability_states:
    - newly_detected
  actions:
  - type: require_approval
    approvals_required: 1
    user_approvers:
    - sam.white

In this example:

  • Every MR that contains new critical vulnerabilities identified by container scanning requires one approval from alberto.dare.
  • Every MR that contains more than one new low or unknown vulnerability identified by container scanning requires one approval from sam.white.

Example for Scan Result Policy editor

You can use this example in the YAML mode of the Scan Result Policy editor. It corresponds to a single object from the previous example:

- name: critical vulnerability CS approvals
  description: critical severity level only for container scanning
  enabled: true
  rules:
  - type: scan_finding
    branches:
    - main
    scanners:
    - container_scanning
    vulnerabilities_allowed: 1
    severity_levels:
    - critical
    vulnerability_states:
    - newly_detected
  actions:
  - type: require_approval
    approvals_required: 1
    user_approvers:
    - adalberto.dare