Sysdig scanner reference for STO
You can scan container images using Sysdig Vulnerability engine. Create a CI Build or Security Tests stage, add a Sysdig step, and then add the setting:value
pairs as specified below.
Important notes for running Sysdig scans in STO
Docker-in-Docker requirements
The following use cases require a Docker-in-Docker background step in your pipeline:
- Container image scans on Kubernetes and Docker build infrastructures
- Required for Orchestration and Dataload scan modes
- Security steps (not step palettes) on Kubernetes and Docker build infrastructures
- Required for all target types and Orchestration/DataLoad modes
The following use cases do not require Docker-in-Docker:
- Harness Cloud AMD64 build infrastructures
- SAST/DAST/configuration scans that use scanner templates (not Security steps)
- Ingestion scans where the data file has already been generated
Set up a Docker-in-Docker background step
-
Go to the stage where you want to run the scan.
-
In Overview, add the shared path
/var/run
. -
In Execution, do the following:
-
Click Add Step and then choose Background.
-
Configure the Background step as follows:
-
Dependency Name =
dind
-
Container Registry = The Docker connector to download the DinD image. If you don't have one defined, go to Docker connector settings reference.
-
Image =
docker:dind
-
Under Entry Point, add the following:
dockerd
In most cases, using
dockerd
is a faster and more secure way to set up the background step. For more information, go to the TLS section in the Docker quick reference.
If the DinD service doesn't start with
dockerd
, clear the Entry Point field and then run the pipeline again. This starts the service with the default entry point.- Under Optional Configuration, select the Privileged checkbox.
-
-
- Visual setup
- YAML setup

Add a Background step to your pipeline and set it up as follows:
- step:
type: Background
name: background-dind-service
identifier: Background_1
spec:
connectorRef: CONTAINER_IMAGE_REGISTRY_CONNECTOR
image: docker:dind
shell: Sh
entrypoint:
- dockerd
privileged: true
Root access requirements
You need to run the scan step with root access if either of the following apply:
-
You need to run a Docker-in-Docker background service.
-
You need to add trusted certificates to your scan images at runtime.
You can set up your STO scan images and pipelines to run scans as non-root and establish trust for your own proxies using custom certificates. For more information, go to Configure STO to Download Images from a Private Registry.
For more information
The following topics contain useful information for setting up scanner integrations in STO:
Sysdig step settings for STO scans
The recommended workflow is add a Sysdig step to a Security Tests or CI Build stage and then configure it as described below.
Scan
Scan Mode
- Orchestration Configure the step to run a scan and then ingest, normalize, and deduplicate the results.
- Ingestion Configure the step to read scan results from a data file and then ingest, normalize, and deduplicate the data.
Scan Configuration
The predefined configuration to use for the scan. All scan steps have at least one configuration.
Target
Type
- Container Image Scan the layers, libraries, and packages in a container image.
Detect target and variant
When auto-detect is enabled for container images, the step detects the target and variant using the Container Image Name and Tag defined in the step or runtime input.
Note the following:
- Auto-detection is not available when the Scan Mode is Ingestion.
- Auto-detect is the default selection for new pipelines. Manual is the default for old pipelines, but you might find that neither radio button is selected in the UI.
Name
The identifier for the target, 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 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.
Container image
Type
The registry type where the image is stored:
-
Docker v2 A registry that uses the Docker Registry v2 API such as Docker Hub, Google Container Registry, or Google Artifact Registry.
-
Local Image
Domain
The URL of the registry that contains the image to scan. Examples include:
docker.io
app.harness.io/registry
us-east1-docker.pkg.dev
us.gcr.io
Name
The image name. For non-local images, you also need to specify the image repository. Example: jsmith/myalphaservice
Tag
The image tag. Examples: latest
, 1.2.3
Access ID
The username to log in to the image registry.
Access Token
The access token used to log in to the image registry. In most cases this is a password or an API key.
You should create a Harness text secret with your encrypted token and reference the secret using the format <+secrets.getValue("project.container-access-id")>
. For more information, go to Add and Reference Text Secrets.
Region
The region where the image to scan is located, as defined by the cloud provider such as AWS.
Ingestion
Ingestion File
The path to your scan results when running an Ingestion scan, for example /shared/scan_results/myscan.latest.sarif
.
-
The data file must be in a supported format 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 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:
- stage:
spec:
sharedPaths:
- /shared/scan_results
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 customize the scan with specific command-line arguments supported by that scanner.
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:
Sysdig pipeline examples
Sysdig orchestration pipeline
If you copy this example, replace the placeholder values with appropriate values for your project, organization, connectors, and access token.
YAML pipeline, Sysdig scan, Orchestration mode
pipeline:
name: sysdig test
identifier: sysdig_test
projectIdentifier: default
orgIdentifier: default
tags: {}
stages:
- stage:
name: scan
identifier: scan
type: SecurityTests
spec:
cloneCodebase: false
execution:
steps:
- step:
type: Background
name: docker
identifier: docker
spec:
connectorRef: YOUR_DOCKER_CONNECTOR_ID
image: docker:dind
shell: Sh
privileged: true
resources:
limits:
memory: 2Gi
cpu: 1000m
- step:
type: Sysdig
name: Sysdig_1
identifier: Sysdig_1
spec:
mode: orchestration
config: default
target:
name: nodegoat
type: container
variant: latest
advanced:
log:
level: debug
privileged: true
image:
type: docker_v2
name: vulnerables/web-dvwa
tag: latest
auth:
access_token: <+secrets.getValue("YOUR_SYSDIG_ACCESS_TOKEN_SECRET")>
domain: https://app.us4.sysdig.com
imagePullPolicy: Always
resources:
limits:
memory: 2Gi
failureStrategies:
- onFailure:
errors:
- AllErrors
action:
type: MarkAsSuccess
- step:
type: Run
name: Run_1
identifier: Run_1
spec:
connectorRef: YOUR_DOCKER_CONNECTOR_ID
image: alpine
shell: Sh
command: cat /harness/scan-logs
failureStrategies:
- onFailure:
errors:
- AllErrors
action:
type: MarkAsSuccess
sharedPaths:
- /addon/results
- /var/run
infrastructure:
type: KubernetesDirect
spec:
connectorRef: YOUR_KUBERNETES_CLUSTER_CONNECTOR_ID
namespace: YOUR_NAMESPACE
automountServiceAccountToken: true
nodeSelector: {}
os: Linux
Sysdig ingestion pipeline
If you copy this example, replace the placeholder values with appropriate values for your project, organization, connectors, and access token.
YAML pipeline, Sysdig scan, Ingestion mode
pipeline:
projectIdentifier: YOUR_PROJECT_ID
orgIdentifier: YOUR_HARNESS_ORG_ID
tags: {}
stages:
- stage:
name: sysdig_ingest_scan
identifier: sysdig_ingest_scan
type: CI
spec:
cloneCodebase: true
platform:
os: Linux
arch: Amd64
runtime:
type: Cloud
spec: {}
execution:
steps:
- step:
type: Run
name: Run_1
identifier: Run_1
spec:
shell: Sh
command: |-
# In this example, the codebase connector points to
# https://github.com/GitHubGoneMad/sysdig-scans
cp /harness/sysdig-scan-results.json /shared/scan_results/
- step:
type: Sysdig
name: Sysdig_1
identifier: Sysdig_1
spec:
mode: ingestion
config: default
target:
type: container
detection: manual
name: YOUR_CONTAINER_IMAGE_REPO/NAME
variant: YOUR_CONTAINER_IMAGE_NAME
advanced:
log:
level: info
privileged: false
ingestion:
file: /shared/scan_results/sysdig-scan-results.json
sharedPaths:
- /shared/scan_results/
properties:
ci:
codebase:
connectorRef: YOUR_CODE_REPO_CONNECTOR_ID
repoName: YOUR_REPO_NAME
build: <+input>
identifier: sysdig_ingestion_test_v2
name: sysdig_ingestion_test_v2