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Name: nodejsscan
Author: ajinabraham

nodejsscan: An Open Source Tool for Application Security | OpenSec Atlas

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Application Security

Tool

nodejsscan

nodejsscan is a static security code scanner that detects vulnerabilities in Node.js applications through a web UI, CLI, and API.

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About This Tool

nodejsscan is a static security code scanner for Node.js applications.

Primary Use Case

This tool is primarily used by developers and security professionals to identify security flaws in Node.js codebases before deployment. It integrates into DevSecOps pipelines to automate security scanning and provides alerts via Slack and email for continuous monitoring.

Key Features

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) for Node.js
Powered by libsast and semgrep for deep code analysis
Web user interface for interactive scanning and results visualization
Command Line Interface (CLI) and Python API for automation
Slack and Email alert integrations for vulnerability notifications
Support for CI/CD pipelines including GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD, and Travis CI
Docker images available for easy deployment
PostgreSQL backend for storing scan results and configurations

Insights & Recommendations

Windows support was dropped from version 4 onwards; users should run nodejsscan on Linux or macOS. Proper configuration of PostgreSQL and environment variables is required for smooth operation. Integrations with Slack and email require setting up respective webhook URLs and SMTP settings. Using Docker is recommended for easier deployment and isolation.

Installation

Install PostgreSQL and configure SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI in nodejsscan/settings.py or as an environment variable
Clone the repository: git clone https://github.com/ajinabraham/nodejsscan.git
Navigate into the directory: cd nodejsscan
Create a Python virtual environment: python3 -m venv venv
Activate the virtual environment: source venv/bin/activate
Install dependencies: pip install -r requirements.txt
Create database schema: python3 manage.py recreate-db (run once)
Run the application: ./run.sh
Access the web UI at http://127.0.0.1:9090
Alternatively, pull and run the Docker image: docker pull opensecurity/nodejsscan:latest

Usage

docker pull opensecurity/nodejsscan:latest

Pull the latest Docker image for nodejsscan

docker run -it -p 9090:9090 opensecurity/nodejsscan:latest

Run nodejsscan Docker container exposing web UI on port 9090

git clone https://github.com/ajinabraham/nodejsscan.git

Clone the nodejsscan repository locally

python3 -m venv venv

Create a Python virtual environment

source venv/bin/activate

Activate the Python virtual environment

pip install -r requirements.txt

Install required Python dependencies

python3 manage.py recreate-db

Initialize or recreate the database schema

./run.sh

Start the nodejsscan web user interface locally

Smart Usage Notes

Integrate nodejsscan into CI/CD pipelines for automated pre-deployment vulnerability detection.Leverage Slack and email alerting features for real-time vulnerability notifications to development and security teams.Use the Python API to build custom automation workflows that trigger scans on code commits or pull requests.Combine nodejsscan findings with runtime application security monitoring tools to enhance detection coverage.Incorporate nodejsscan results into purple team exercises to simulate attacker exploitation and improve defensive controls.