- Templates
- DAST versions
- DAST run options
- Authentication
- Customize DAST settings
- On-demand scans
- Site profile
- Scanner profile
- Auditing
- Reports
- Troubleshooting
DAST proxy-based analyzer
The DAST proxy-based analyzer can be added to your GitLab CI/CD pipeline. This helps you discover vulnerabilities in web applications that do not use JavaScript heavily. For applications that do, see the DAST browser-based analyzer.
The analyzer uses the OWASP Zed Attack Proxy (ZAP) to scan in two different ways:
- Passive scan only (default). DAST executes ZAP’s Baseline Scan and doesn’t actively attack your application.
- Passive and active (or full) scan. DAST can be configured to also perform an active scan to attack your application and produce a more extensive security report. It can be very useful when combined with Review Apps.
Templates
- The DAST latest template was introduced in GitLab 13.8.
- All DAST templates were updated to DAST_VERSION: 2 in GitLab 14.0.
- All DAST templates were updated to DAST_VERSION: 3 in GitLab 15.0.
GitLab DAST configuration is defined in CI/CD templates. Updates to the template are provided with GitLab upgrades, allowing you to benefit from any improvements and additions.
Available templates:
-
DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
: Stable version of the DAST CI/CD template. -
DAST.latest.gitlab-ci.yml
: Latest version of the DAST template.
For more information about template versioning, see the CI/CD documentation.
DAST versions
By default, the DAST template uses the latest major version of the DAST Docker image. You can choose
how DAST updates, using the DAST_VERSION
variable:
- Automatically update DAST with new features and fixes by pinning to a major
version (such as
1
). - Only update fixes by pinning to a minor version (such as
1.6
). - Prevent all updates by pinning to a specific version (such as
1.6.4
).
Find the latest DAST versions on the DAST releases page.
DAST run options
You can use DAST to examine your web application:
- Automatically, initiated by a merge request.
- Manually, initiated on demand.
Some of the differences between these run options:
Automatic scan | On-demand scan |
---|---|
DAST scan is initiated by a merge request. | DAST scan is initiated manually, outside the DevOps life cycle. |
CI/CD variables are sourced from .gitlab-ci.yml . | CI/CD variables are provided in the UI. |
All DAST CI/CD variables available. | Subset of DAST CI/CD variables available. |
DAST.gitlab-ci.yml template. |
DAST-On-Demand-Scan.gitlab-ci.yml template. |
Enable automatic DAST run
To enable DAST to run automatically, either:
- Enable Auto DAST (provided by Auto DevOps).
-
Edit the
.gitlab-ci.yml
file manually. - Configure DAST using the UI.
Edit the .gitlab-ci.yml
file manually
In this method you manually edit the existing .gitlab-ci.yml
file. Use this method if your GitLab CI/CD configuration file is complex.
To include the DAST template:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Build > Pipeline editor.
-
Copy and paste the following to the bottom of the
.gitlab-ci.yml
file.To use the DAST stable template:
include: - template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
To use the DAST latest template:
include: - template: DAST.latest.gitlab-ci.yml
-
Define the URL to be scanned by DAST by using one of these methods:
-
Set the
DAST_WEBSITE
CI/CD variable. If set, this value takes precedence. -
Add the URL in an
environment_url.txt
file at the root of your project. This is useful for testing in dynamic environments. To run DAST against an application dynamically created during a GitLab CI/CD pipeline, a job that runs prior to the DAST scan must persist the application’s domain in anenvironment_url.txt
file. DAST automatically parses theenvironment_url.txt
file to find its scan target.For example, in a job that runs prior to DAST, you could include code that looks similar to:
script: - echo http://${CI_PROJECT_ID}-${CI_ENVIRONMENT_SLUG}.domain.com > environment_url.txt artifacts: paths: [environment_url.txt] when: always
You can see an example of this in our Auto DevOps CI YAML file.
-
- Select the Validate tab, then select Validate pipeline. The message Simulation completed successfully indicates the file is valid.
- Select the Edit tab.
- Optional. In Commit message, customize the commit message.
- Select Commit changes.
Pipelines now include a DAST job.
The results are saved as a DAST report artifact 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 is used to run the tests on the specified URL and scan it for possible vulnerabilities.
Configure DAST using the UI
In this method you select options in the UI. Based on your selections, a code
snippet is created that you paste into the .gitlab-ci.yml
file.
To configure DAST using the UI:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Enable DAST or Configure DAST.
- Select the desired Scanner profile, or select Create scanner profile and save a scanner profile. For more details, see scanner profiles.
- Select the desired Site profile, or select Create site profile and save a site profile. For more details, see site profiles.
- Select Generate code snippet. A modal opens with the YAML snippet corresponding to the options you selected.
- Do one of the following:
- To copy the snippet to your clipboard, select Copy code only.
- To add the snippet to your project’s
.gitlab-ci.yml
file, select Copy code and open.gitlab-ci.yml
file. The Pipeline Editor opens.- Paste the snippet into the
.gitlab-ci.yml
file. - Select the Validate tab, then select Validate pipeline. The message Simulation completed successfully indicates the file is valid.
- Select the Edit tab.
- Optional. In Commit message, customize the commit message.
- Select Commit changes.
- Paste the snippet into the
Pipelines now include a DAST job.
API scan
- The DAST API analyzer is used for scanning web APIs. Web API technologies such as GraphQL, REST, and SOAP are supported.
URL scan
- Introduced in GitLab 13.4.
- Improved in GitLab 13.11.
A URL scan allows you to specify which parts of a website are scanned by DAST.
Define the URLs to scan
URLs to scan can be specified by either of the following methods:
- Use
DAST_PATHS_FILE
CI/CD variable to specify the name of a file containing the paths. - Use
DAST_PATHS
variable to list the paths.
Use DAST_PATHS_FILE
CI/CD variable
Introduced in GitLab 13.6.
To define the URLs to scan in a file, create a plain text file with one path per line.
page1.html
/page2.html
category/shoes/page1.html
To scan the URLs in that file, set the CI/CD variable DAST_PATHS_FILE
to the path of that file.
The file can be checked into the project repository or generated as an artifact by a job that
runs before DAST.
By default, DAST scans do not clone the project repository. Instruct the DAST job to clone
the project by setting GIT_STRATEGY
to fetch. Give a file path relative to CI_PROJECT_DIR
to DAST_PATHS_FILE
.
include:
- template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
variables:
GIT_STRATEGY: fetch
DAST_PATHS_FILE: url_file.txt # url_file.txt lives in the root directory of the project
DAST_BROWSER_SCAN: "true" # use the browser-based GitLab DAST crawler
Use DAST_PATHS
CI/CD variable
Introduced in GitLab 13.4.
To specify the paths to scan in a CI/CD variable, add a comma-separated list of the paths to the DAST_PATHS
variable. You can only scan paths of a single host.
include:
- template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
variables:
DAST_PATHS: "/page1.html,/category1/page1.html,/page3.html"
DAST_BROWSER_SCAN: "true" # use the browser-based GitLab DAST crawler
When using DAST_PATHS
and DAST_PATHS_FILE
, note the following:
-
DAST_WEBSITE
must be defined when using eitherDAST_PATHS_FILE
orDAST_PATHS
. The paths listed in either useDAST_WEBSITE
to build the URLs to scan - Spidering is disabled when
DAST_PATHS
orDAST_PATHS_FILE
are defined -
DAST_PATHS_FILE
andDAST_PATHS
cannot be used together - The
DAST_PATHS
variable has a limit of about 130 kb. If you have a list or paths greater than this, useDAST_PATHS_FILE
.
Full Scan
To perform a full scan on the listed paths, use the DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED
CI/CD variable.
Authentication
The proxy-based analyzer uses the browser-based analyzer to authenticate a user prior to a scan. See Authentication for configuration instructions.
Customize DAST settings
You can customize the behavior of DAST using both CI/CD variables and command-line options. Use of CI/CD variables overrides the values contained in the DAST template.
Customize DAST using CI/CD variables
only
and except
is no longer supported. You must use rules
instead.The DAST settings can be changed through CI/CD variables by using the
variables
parameter in .gitlab-ci.yml
. For details of
all DAST CI/CD variables, read Available CI/CD variables.
For example:
include:
- template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
variables:
DAST_WEBSITE: https://example.com
DAST_SPIDER_MINS: 120
DAST_BROWSER_SCAN: "true" # use the browser-based GitLab DAST crawler
Because the template is evaluated before the pipeline configuration, the last mention of the variable takes precedence.
Enable or disable rules
A complete list of the rules that DAST uses to scan for vulnerabilities can be found in the ZAP documentation.
DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES
disables the rules with the given IDs.
DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES
restricts the set of rules used in the scan to
those with the given IDs.
DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES
and DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES
are mutually exclusive and a
DAST scan with both configured exits with an error.
By default, several rules are disabled because they either take a long time to
run or frequently generate false positives. The complete list of disabled rules
can be found in exclude_rules.yml
.
The lists for DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES
and DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES
must be enclosed in double
quotes ("
), otherwise they are interpreted as numeric values.
Hide sensitive information
Introduced in GitLab 13.1.
HTTP request and response headers may contain sensitive information, including cookies and authorization credentials. By default, the following headers are masked:
-
Authorization
. -
Proxy-Authorization
. -
Set-Cookie
(values only). -
Cookie
(values only).
Using the DAST_MASK_HTTP_HEADERS
CI/CD variable, you can list the
headers whose values you want masked. For details on how to mask headers, see
Customizing the DAST settings.
Use Mutual TLS
Introduced in GitLab 14.8.
Mutual TLS allows a target application server to verify that requests are from a known source. Browser-based scans do not support Mutual TLS.
Requirements
- Base64-encoded PKCS12 certificate
- Password of the base64-encoded PKCS12 certificate
To enable Mutual TLS:
-
If the PKCS12 certificate is not already base64-encoded, convert it to base64 encoding. For security reasons, we recommend encoding the certificate locally, not using a web-hosted conversion service. For example, to encode the certificate on either macOS or Linux:
base64 <path-to-pkcs12-certificate-file>
- Create a masked variable named
DAST_PKCS12_CERTIFICATE_BASE64
and store the base64-encoded PKCS12 certificate’s value in that variable. - Create a masked variable
DAST_PKCS12_PASSWORD
and store the PKCS12 certificate’s password in that variable.
Available CI/CD variables
These CI/CD variables are specific to DAST. They can be used to customize the behavior of DAST to your requirements. For authentication CI/CD variables, see Authentication.
CI/CD variable | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
DAST_ADVERTISE_SCAN | boolean | Set to true to add a Via header to every request sent, advertising that the request was sent as part of a GitLab DAST scan. |
DAST_AGGREGATE_VULNERABILITIES | boolean | Vulnerability aggregation is set to true by default. To disable this feature and see each vulnerability individually set to false . |
DAST_ALLOWED_HOSTS | Comma-separated list of strings | Hostnames included in this variable are considered in scope when crawled. By default the DAST_WEBSITE hostname is included in the allowed hosts list. Headers set using DAST_REQUEST_HEADERS are added to every request made to these hostnames. Example, site.com,another.com . |
DAST_API_HOST_OVERRIDE 1
| string | Removed in GitLab 16.0. Replaced by DAST API scan. |
DAST_API_SPECIFICATION 1
| URL or string | Removed in GitLab 16.0. Replaced by DAST API scan. |
DAST_AUTH_EXCLUDE_URLS | URLs | Removed in GitLab 14.0. Replaced by DAST_EXCLUDE_URLS . The URLs to skip during the authenticated scan; comma-separated. Regular expression syntax can be used to match multiple URLs. For example, .* matches an arbitrary character sequence. |
DAST_AUTO_UPDATE_ADDONS | boolean | ZAP add-ons are pinned to specific versions in the DAST Docker image. Set to true to download the latest versions when the scan starts. Default: false . |
DAST_DEBUG 1
| boolean | Enable debug message output. Default: false . |
DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES | string | Set to a comma-separated list of Vulnerability Rule IDs to exclude them from running during the scan. Rule IDs are numbers and can be found from the DAST log or on the ZAP project. For example, HTTP Parameter Override has a rule ID of 10026 . Cannot be used when DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES is set. Note: In earlier versions of GitLab the excluded rules were executed but vulnerabilities they generated were suppressed. |
DAST_EXCLUDE_URLS 1
| URLs | The URLs to skip during the authenticated scan; comma-separated. Regular expression syntax can be used to match multiple URLs. For example, .* matches an arbitrary character sequence. Example, http://example.com/sign-out . |
DAST_FULL_SCAN_ENABLED 1
| boolean | Set to true to run a ZAP Full Scan instead of a ZAP Baseline Scan. Default: false
|
DAST_HTML_REPORT | string | Deprecated in GitLab 15.7. The filename of the HTML report written at the end of a scan. |
DAST_INCLUDE_ALPHA_VULNERABILITIES | boolean | Set to true to include alpha passive and active scan rules. Default: false . |
DAST_MARKDOWN_REPORT | string | Deprecated in GitLab 15.7. The filename of the Markdown report written at the end of a scan. |
DAST_MASK_HTTP_HEADERS | string | Comma-separated list of request and response headers to be masked. Must contain all headers to be masked. Refer to list of headers that are masked by default. |
DAST_MAX_URLS_PER_VULNERABILITY | number | The maximum number of URLs reported for a single vulnerability. DAST_MAX_URLS_PER_VULNERABILITY is set to 50 by default. To list all the URLs set to 0 . |
DAST_ONLY_INCLUDE_RULES | string | Set to a comma-separated list of Vulnerability Rule IDs to configure the scan to run only them. Rule IDs are numbers and can be found from the DAST log or on the ZAP project. Cannot be used when DAST_EXCLUDE_RULES is set. |
DAST_PATHS | string | Set to a comma-separated list of URLs for DAST to scan. For example, /page1.html,/category1/page3.html,/page2.html . |
DAST_PATHS_FILE | string | The file path containing the paths within DAST_WEBSITE to scan. The file must be plain text with one path per line. |
DAST_PKCS12_CERTIFICATE_BASE64 | string | The PKCS12 certificate used for sites that require Mutual TLS. Must be encoded as base64 text. |
DAST_PKCS12_PASSWORD | string | The password of the certificate used in DAST_PKCS12_CERTIFICATE_BASE64 . |
DAST_REQUEST_HEADERS 1
| string | Set to a comma-separated list of request header names and values. Headers are added to every request made by DAST. For example, Cache-control: no-cache,User-Agent: DAST/1.0
|
DAST_SKIP_TARGET_CHECK | boolean | Set to true to prevent DAST from checking that the target is available before scanning. Default: false . |
DAST_SPIDER_MINS 1
| number | The maximum duration of the spider scan in minutes. Set to 0 for unlimited. Default: One minute, or unlimited when the scan is a full scan. |
DAST_SPIDER_START_AT_HOST | boolean | Set to false to prevent DAST from resetting the target to its host before scanning. When true , non-host targets http://test.site/some_path is reset to http://test.site before scan. Default: true . |
DAST_TARGET_AVAILABILITY_TIMEOUT 1
| number | Time limit in seconds to wait for target availability. |
DAST_USE_AJAX_SPIDER 1
| boolean | Set to true to use the AJAX spider in addition to the traditional spider, useful for crawling sites that require JavaScript. Default: false . |
DAST_XML_REPORT | string | Deprecated in GitLab 15.7. The filename of the XML report written at the end of a scan. |
DAST_WEBSITE 1
| URL | The URL of the website to scan. |
DAST_ZAP_CLI_OPTIONS | string | Deprecated in GitLab 15.7. ZAP server command-line options. For example, -Xmx3072m would set the Java maximum memory allocation pool size. |
DAST_ZAP_LOG_CONFIGURATION | string | Deprecated in GitLab 15.7. Set to a semicolon-separated list of additional log4j properties for the ZAP Server. Example: logger.httpsender.name=org.parosproxy.paros.network.HttpSender;logger.httpsender.level=debug;logger.sitemap.name=org.parosproxy.paros.model.SiteMap;logger.sitemap.level=debug;
|
SECURE_ANALYZERS_PREFIX | URL | Set the Docker registry base address from which to download the analyzer. |
- Available to an on-demand DAST scan.
Customize DAST using command-line options
Not all DAST configuration is available via CI/CD variables. To find out all possible options, run the following configuration. Available command-line options are printed to the job log:
include:
template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
dast:
script:
- /analyze --help
You must then overwrite the script
command to pass in the appropriate
argument. For example, vulnerability definitions in alpha can be included with
-a
. The following configuration includes those definitions:
include:
template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
dast:
script:
- export DAST_WEBSITE=${DAST_WEBSITE:-$(cat environment_url.txt)}
- /analyze -a -t $DAST_WEBSITE
Custom ZAProxy configuration
The ZAProxy server contains many useful configurable values.
Many key/values for -config
remain undocumented, but there is an untested list of
possible keys.
These options are not supported by DAST, and may break the DAST scan
when used. An example of how to rewrite the Authorization header value with TOKEN
follows:
include:
template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
variables:
DAST_ZAP_CLI_OPTIONS: "-config replacer.full_list(0).description=auth -config replacer.full_list(0).enabled=true -config replacer.full_list(0).matchtype=REQ_HEADER -config replacer.full_list(0).matchstr=Authorization -config replacer.full_list(0).regex=false -config replacer.full_list(0).replacement=TOKEN"
Bleeding-edge vulnerability definitions
ZAP first creates rules in the alpha
class. After a testing period with
the community, they are promoted to beta
. DAST uses beta
definitions by
default. To request alpha
definitions, use the
DAST_INCLUDE_ALPHA_VULNERABILITIES
CI/CD variable as shown in the
following configuration:
include:
template: DAST.gitlab-ci.yml
variables:
DAST_INCLUDE_ALPHA_VULNERABILITIES: "true"
Cloning the project’s repository
The DAST job does not require the project’s repository to be present when running, so by default
GIT_STRATEGY
is set to none
.
On-demand scans
- Auditing for DAST profile management introduced in GitLab 14.1.
- Scheduled on-demand DAST scans introduced in GitLab 14.3 with a flag named
dast_on_demand_scans_scheduler
. Disabled by default. - Scheduled on-demand DAST scans generally available in GitLab 14.5. Feature flag
dast_on_demand_scans_scheduler
removed. - Runner tags selection enabled on GitLab.com and self-managed in GitLab 16.3.
An on-demand DAST scan runs outside the DevOps life cycle. Changes in your repository don’t trigger the scan. You must either start it manually, or schedule it to run. For on-demand DAST scans, a site profile defines what is to be scanned, and a scanner profile defines how the application is to be scanned.
An on-demand scan can be run in active or passive mode:
- Passive mode: The default mode, which runs a ZAP Baseline Scan.
- Active mode: Runs a ZAP Full Scan which is potentially harmful to the site being scanned. To minimize the risk of accidental damage, running an active scan requires a validated site profile.
View on-demand DAST scans
To view on-demand scans:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project or group.
- Select Secure > On-demand scans.
On-demand scans are grouped by their status. The scan library contains all available on-demand scans.
Run an on-demand DAST scan
Prerequisites:
- You must have permission to run an on-demand DAST scan against a protected branch. The default branch is automatically protected. For more information, see Pipeline security on protected branches.
To run an existing on-demand scan:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > On-demand scans.
- Select the Scan library tab.
-
In the scan’s row, select Run scan.
If the branch saved in the scan no longer exists, you must:
- Edit the scan.
- Select a new branch.
- Save the edited scan.
The on-demand DAST scan runs, and the project’s dashboard shows the results.
Create an on-demand scan
Create an on-demand scan to:
- Run it immediately.
- Save it to be run in the future.
- Schedule it to be run at a specified schedule.
To create an on-demand DAST scan:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project or group.
- Select Secure > On-demand scans.
- Select New scan.
- Complete the Scan name and Description fields.
- In the Branch dropdown list, select the desired branch.
- Optional. Select the runner tags.
- Select Select scanner profile or Change scanner profile to open the drawer, and either:
- Select a scanner profile from the drawer, or
- Select New profile, create a scanner profile, then select Save profile.
- Select Select site profile or Change site profile to open the drawer, and either:
- Select a site profile from the Site profile library drawer, or
- Select New profile, create a site profile, then select Save profile.
-
To run the on-demand scan:
- Immediately, select Save and run scan.
- In the future, select Save scan.
-
On a schedule:
- Turn on the Enable scan schedule toggle.
- Complete the schedule fields.
- Select Save scan.
The on-demand DAST scan runs as specified and the project’s dashboard shows the results.
View details of an on-demand scan
To view details of an on-demand scan:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > On-demand scans.
- Select the Scan library tab.
- In the saved scan’s row select More actions (), then select Edit.
Edit an on-demand scan
To edit an on-demand scan:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > On-demand scans.
- Select the Scan library tab.
- In the saved scan’s row select More actions (), then select Edit.
- Edit the saved scan’s details.
- Select Save scan.
Delete an on-demand scan
To delete an on-demand scan:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > On-demand scans.
- Select the Scan library tab.
- In the saved scan’s row select More actions (), then select Delete.
- On the confirmation dialog, select Delete.
Site profile
- Site profile features, scan method and file URL, were enabled on GitLab.com and self-managed in GitLab 15.6.
- GraphQL endpoint path feature was introduced in GitLab 15.7.
A site profile defines the attributes and configuration details of the deployed application,
website, or API to be scanned by DAST. A site profile can be referenced in .gitlab-ci.yml
and
on-demand scans.
A site profile contains:
-
Profile name: A name you assign to the site to be scanned. While a site profile is referenced
in either
.gitlab-ci.yml
or an on-demand scan, it cannot be renamed. - Site type: The type of target to be scanned, either website or API scan.
- Target URL: The URL that DAST runs against.
- Excluded URLs: A comma-separated list of URLs to exclude from the scan.
- Request headers: A comma-separated list of HTTP request headers, including names and values. These headers are added to every request made by DAST.
-
Authentication:
- Authenticated URL: The URL of the page containing the sign-in HTML form on the target website. The username and password are submitted with the login form to create an authenticated scan.
- Username: The username used to authenticate to the website.
- Password: The password used to authenticate to the website.
- Username form field: The name of username field at the sign-in HTML form.
- Password form field: The name of password field at the sign-in HTML form.
-
Submit form field: The
id
orname
of the element that when selected submits the sign-in HTML form.
-
Scan method: A type of method to perform API testing. The supported methods are OpenAPI, Postman Collections, HTTP Archive (HAR), or GraphQL.
- GraphQL endpoint path: The path to the GraphQL endpoint. This path is concatenated with the target URL to provide the URI for the scan to test. The GraphQL endpoint must support introspection queries.
- File URL: The URL of the OpenAPI, Postman Collection, or HTTP Archive file.
When an API site type is selected, a host override is used to ensure the API being scanned is on the same host as the target. This is done to reduce the risk of running an active scan against the wrong API.
When configured, request headers and password fields are encrypted using aes-256-gcm
before being stored in the database.
This data can only be read and decrypted with a valid secrets file.
Site profile validation
Meta tag validation introduced in GitLab 14.2.
Site profile validation reduces the risk of running an active scan against the wrong website. A site must be validated before an active scan can run against it. Each of the site validation methods are equivalent in functionality, so use whichever is most suitable:
- Text file validation: Requires a text file be uploaded to the target site. The text file is allocated a name and content that is unique to the project. The validation process checks the file’s content.
-
Header validation: Requires the header
Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST
be added to the target site, with a value unique to the project. The validation process checks that the header is present, and checks its value. -
Meta tag validation: Requires the meta tag named
gitlab-dast-validation
be added to the target site, with a value unique to the project. Make sure it’s added to the<head>
section of the page. The validation process checks that the meta tag is present, and checks its value.
Create a site profile
To create a site profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select New > Site profile.
- Complete the fields then select Save profile.
The site profile is saved, for use in an on-demand scan.
Edit a site profile
When a validated site profile’s file, header, or meta tag is edited, the site’s validation status is revoked.
To edit a site profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select the Site Profiles tab.
- In the profile’s row select the More actions () menu, then select Edit.
- Edit the fields then select Save profile.
Delete a site profile
To delete a site profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select the Site Profiles tab.
- In the profile’s row, select the More actions () menu, then select Delete.
- Select Delete to confirm the deletion.
Validate a site profile
Validating a site is required to run an active scan.
Prerequisites:
- A runner must be available in the project to run a validation job.
- The GitLab server’s certificate must be trusted and must not use a self-signed certificate.
To validate a site profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select the Site Profiles tab.
- In the profile’s row, select Validate.
- Select the validation method.
- For Text file validation:
- Download the validation file listed in Step 2.
- Upload the validation file to the host, to the location in Step 3 or any location you prefer.
- If required, edit the file location in Step 3.
- Select Validate.
- For Header validation:
- Select the clipboard icon in Step 2.
- Edit the header of the site to validate, and paste the clipboard content.
- Select the input field in Step 3 and enter the location of the header.
- Select Validate.
- For Meta tag validation:
- Select the clipboard icon in Step 2.
- Edit the content of the site to validate, and paste the clipboard content.
- Select the input field in Step 3 and enter the location of the meta tag.
- Select Validate.
- For Text file validation:
The site is validated and an active scan can run against it. A site profile’s validation status is revoked only when it’s revoked manually, or its file, header, or meta tag is edited.
Retry a failed validation
- Introduced in GitLab 14.3.
-
Deployed behind the
dast_failed_site_validations
flag, enabled by default. -
Feature flag
dast_failed_site_validations
removed in GitLab 14.4.
Failed site validation attempts are listed on the Site profiles tab of the Manage profiles page.
To retry a site profile’s failed validation:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select the Site Profiles tab.
- In the profile’s row, select Retry validation.
Revoke a site profile’s validation status
To revoke a site profile’s validation status:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Beside the validated profile, select Revoke validation.
The site profile’s validation status is revoked.
Validated site profile headers
The following are code samples of how you can provide the required site profile header in your application.
Ruby on Rails example for on-demand scan
Here’s how you can add a custom header in a Ruby on Rails application:
class DastWebsiteTargetController < ActionController::Base
def dast_website_target
response.headers['Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST'] = '0dd79c9a-7b29-4e26-a815-eaaf53fcab1c'
head :ok
end
end
Django example for on-demand scan
Here’s how you can add a custom header in Django:
class DastWebsiteTargetView(View):
def head(self, *args, **kwargs):
response = HttpResponse()
response['Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST'] = '0dd79c9a-7b29-4e26-a815-eaaf53fcab1c'
return response
Node (with Express) example for on-demand scan
Here’s how you can add a custom header in Node (with Express):
app.get('/dast-website-target', function(req, res) {
res.append('Gitlab-On-Demand-DAST', '0dd79c9a-7b29-4e26-a815-eaaf53fcab1c')
res.send('Respond to DAST ping')
})
Scanner profile
A scanner profile defines the configuration details of a security scanner. A scanner profile can be
referenced in .gitlab-ci.yml
and on-demand scans.
A scanner profile contains:
-
Profile name: A name you give the scanner profile. For example, “Spider_15”. While a scanner
profile is referenced in either
.gitlab-ci.yml
or an on-demand scan, it cannot be renamed. - Scan mode: A passive scan monitors all HTTP messages (requests and responses) sent to the target. An active scan attacks the target to find potential vulnerabilities.
- Spider timeout: The maximum number of minutes allowed for the spider to traverse the site.
- Target timeout: The maximum number of seconds DAST waits for the site to be available before starting the scan.
- AJAX spider: Run the AJAX spider, in addition to the traditional spider, to crawl the target site.
- Debug messages: Include debug messages in the DAST console output.
Create a scanner profile
To create a scanner profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select New > Scanner profile.
- Complete the form. For details of each field, see Scanner profile.
- Select Save profile.
Edit a scanner profile
To edit a scanner profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select the Scanner profiles tab.
- In the scanner’s row, select the More actions () menu, then select Edit.
- Edit the form.
- Select Save profile.
Delete a scanner profile
To delete a scanner profile:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your project.
- Select Secure > Security configuration.
- In the Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) section, select Manage profiles.
- Select the Scanner profiles tab.
- In the scanner’s row, select the More actions () menu, then select Delete.
- Select Delete.
Auditing
Introduced in GitLab 14.1.
The creation, updating, and deletion of DAST profiles, DAST scanner profiles, and DAST site profiles are included in the audit log.
Reports
The DAST tool outputs a gl-dast-report.json
report file containing details of the scan and its results.
This file is included in the job’s artifacts. JSON is the default format, but
you can output the report in Markdown, HTML, and XML formats. To specify an alternative
format, use a CI/CD variable.
For details of the report’s schema, see the schema for DAST reports. Example reports can be found in the DAST repository.
Troubleshooting
unable to get local issuer certificate
when trying to validate a site profile
The use of self-signed certificates is not supported and may cause the job to fail with an error message: unable to get local issuer certificate
. For more information, see issue 416670.