index.md

---
type: reference, howto
---

# Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) **(ULTIMATE)**

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/4348)
in [GitLab Ultimate](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 10.4.

NOTE: **4 of the top 6 attacks were application based.**
Download our whitepaper,
["A Seismic Shift in Application Security"](https://about.gitlab.com/resources/whitepaper-seismic-shift-application-security/)
to learn how to protect your organization.

Running [static checks](../sast/index.md) on your code is the first step to detect
vulnerabilities that can put the security of your code at risk. Yet, once
deployed, your application is exposed to a new category of possible attacks,
such as cross-site scripting or broken authentication flaws. This is where
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) comes into place.

## Overview

If you are using [GitLab CI/CD](../../../ci/README.md), you can analyze your running web application(s)
for known vulnerabilities using Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST).

You can take advantage of DAST by either [including the CI job](#configuration) in
your existing `.gitlab-ci.yml` file or by implicitly using
[Auto DAST](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md#auto-dast-ultimate)
that is provided by [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md).

GitLab checks the DAST report, compares the found vulnerabilities between the source and target
branches, and shows the information right on the merge request.

![DAST Widget](img/dast_all.png)

By clicking on one of the detected linked vulnerabilities, you will be able to
see the details and the URL(s) affected.

![DAST Widget Clicked](img/dast_single.png)

[Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Application_Security_Testing)
is using the popular open source tool [OWASP ZAProxy](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy)
to perform an analysis on your running web application.

By default, DAST executes [ZAP Baseline Scan](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy/wiki/ZAP-Baseline-Scan) and will perform passive scanning only. It will not actively attack your application.

However, DAST can be [configured](#full-scan)
to also perform a so-called "active scan". That is, attack your application and produce a more extensive security report.
It can be very useful combined with [Review Apps](../../../ci/review_apps/index.md).

The [`dast`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/dast/container_registry) Docker image in GitLab container registry is updated on a weekly basis to have all [`owasp2docker-weekly`](https://hub.docker.com/r/owasp/zap2docker-weekly/) updates in it.

## Use cases

It helps you automatically find security vulnerabilities in your running web
applications while you are developing and testing your applications.

## Requirements

To run a DAST job, you need GitLab Runner with the
[`docker` executor](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html).

## Configuration

For GitLab 11.9 and later, to enable DAST, you must
[include](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#includetemplate) the
[`DAST.gitlab-ci.yml` template](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security/DAST.gitlab-ci.yml)
that's provided as a part of your GitLab installation.
For GitLab versions earlier than 11.9, you can copy and use the job as defined
in that template.

Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml` file:

```yaml
include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com
```

There are two ways to define the URL to be scanned by DAST:

- Set the `DAST_WEBSITE` [variable](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#variables).
- Add it in an `environment_url.txt` file at the root of your project.

The included template will create a `dast` job in your CI/CD pipeline and scan
your project's source code for possible vulnerabilities.

The results will be saved as a
[DAST report artifact](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#artifactsreportsdast-ultimate)
that you can later download and analyze. Due to implementation limitations we
always take the latest DAST artifact available. Behind the scenes, the
[GitLab DAST Docker image](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/dast)
is used to run the tests on the specified URL and scan it for possible vulnerabilities.

### Authenticated scan

It's also possible to authenticate the user before performing the DAST checks:

```yaml
include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com
  DAST_AUTH_URL: https://example.com/sign-in
  DAST_USERNAME: john.doe@example.com
  DAST_PASSWORD: john-doe-password
  DAST_USERNAME_FIELD: session[user] # the name of username field at the sign-in HTML form
  DAST_PASSWORD_FIELD: session[password] # the name of password field at the sign-in HTML form
  DAST_AUTH_EXCLUDE_URLS: http://example.com/sign-out,http://example.com/sign-out-2 # optional, URLs to skip during the authenticated scan; comma-separated, no spaces in between
```

The results will be saved as a
[DAST report artifact](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#artifactsreportsdast-ultimate)
that you can later download and analyze.
Due to implementation limitations, we always take the latest DAST artifact available.

### Full scan

DAST can be configured to perform [ZAP Full Scan](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy/wiki/ZAP-Full-Scan), which
includes both passive and active scanning against the same target website:

```yaml
include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED: "true"
```

### Customizing the DAST settings

The DAST settings can be changed through environment variables by using the
[`variables`](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#variables) parameter in `.gitlab-ci.yml`.
These variables are documented in [available variables](#available-variables).

For example:

```yaml
include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

variables:
  DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com
  DAST_TARGET_AVAILABILITY_TIMEOUT: 120
```

Because the template is [evaluated before](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#include) the pipeline
configuration, the last mention of the variable will take precedence.

### Overriding the DAST template

If you want to override the job definition (for example, change properties like
`variables` or `dependencies`), you need to declare a `dast` job after the
template inclusion and specify any additional keys under it. For example:

```yaml
include:
  template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml

dast:
  stage: dast # IMPORTANT: don't forget to add this
  variables:
    DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com
    CI_DEBUG_TRACE: "true"
```

As the DAST job belongs to a separate `dast` stage that runs after all
[default stages](../../../ci/yaml/README.md#stages),
don't forget to add `stage: dast` when you override the template job definition.

## Available variables

DAST can be [configured](#customizing-the-dast-settings) using environment variables.
Since it's a wrapper around the ZAP scanning scripts
([baseline](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy/wiki/ZAP-Baseline-Scan)
or [full](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy/wiki/ZAP-Full-Scan) scan), it
accepts all arguments those scripts recognize (the arguments are the same).
The choice of the scan type depends on the `DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED` environment
variable value.

| Environment variable        | Required   | Description                                                                    |
|-----------------------------| ----------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `DAST_WEBSITE`  | yes | The URL of the website to scan. |
| `DAST_AUTH_URL` | no | The authentication URL of the website to scan. |
| `DAST_USERNAME` | no | The username to authenticate to in the website. |
| `DAST_PASSWORD` | no | The password to authenticate to in the website. |
| `DAST_USERNAME_FIELD` | no | The name of username field at the sign-in HTML form. |
| `DAST_PASSWORD_FIELD` | no | The name of password field at the sign-in HTML form. |
| `DAST_AUTH_EXCLUDE_URLS` | no | The URLs to skip during the authenticated scan; comma-separated, no spaces in between. |
| `DAST_TARGET_AVAILABILITY_TIMEOUT` | no | Time limit in seconds to wait for target availability. Scan is attempted nevertheless if it runs out. Integer. Defaults to `60`. |
| `DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED` | no | Switches the tool to execute [ZAP Full Scan](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy/wiki/ZAP-Full-Scan) instead of [ZAP Baseline Scan](https://github.com/zaproxy/zaproxy/wiki/ZAP-Baseline-Scan). Boolean. `true`, `True`, or `1` are considered as true value, otherwise false. Defaults to `false`. |

## Security Dashboard

The Security Dashboard is a good place to get an overview of all the security
vulnerabilities in your groups and projects. Read more about the
[Security Dashboard](../security_dashboard/index.md).

## Interacting with the vulnerabilities

Once a vulnerability is found, you can interact with it. Read more on how to
[interact with the vulnerabilities](../index.md#interacting-with-the-vulnerabilities).

## Vulnerabilities database update

For more information about the vulnerabilities database update, check the
[maintenance table](../index.md#maintenance-and-update-of-the-vulnerabilities-database).

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