Bearer CLI Offers Free SAST for Prioritized Vulnerability Scanning
Bearer CLI, a new source-available SAST tool, scans code for vulnerabilities and prioritizes findings based on the sensitive data they could expose, aiding developers in focusing on critical security issues.
Bearer CLI has emerged as a new, free, and source-available static application security testing (SAST) tool designed to streamline the vulnerability remediation process for developers. Unlike traditional SAST tools that can overwhelm users with numerous findings, Bearer CLI employs a novel approach by prioritizing vulnerabilities based on the sensitive data they could potentially expose. This method aims to guide developers toward addressing the most critical security flaws first, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of applications.
SAST tools operate by analyzing source code without executing it, allowing for the identification of potential security weaknesses. Bearer CLI's core innovation lies in its data-flow analysis. By tracing sensitive data types through the codebase, the tool can pinpoint vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk of data exfiltration or exposure. This allows security teams and developers to focus their limited resources on fixing issues that have the most significant impact on data privacy and security.
The tool comes equipped with built-in rulesets that cover widely recognized security standards such as the OWASP Top 10 and the CWE Top 25. This ensures that common and critical vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), path traversal, and the presence of hard-coded passwords are systematically detected. The comprehensive rule coverage provides a strong foundation for identifying known security weaknesses within a project.
Beyond general vulnerability scanning, Bearer CLI offers a specialized privacy report. This feature identifies over 120 distinct data types, ranging from personally identifiable information (PII) to sensitive health data. It flags components, including databases like pgSQL and third-party APIs such as OpenAI and Sentry, that handle these data types. The output is structured to serve as valuable evidence for privacy impact assessments and to fulfill GDPR requirements for maintaining records of processing activities.
Bearer emphasizes that its scanner strictly analyzes code and never inspects actual data values. For instance, a finding might indicate that code handles a field named 'email,' but it will not reveal whether actual customer email addresses are processed through that path. This adherence to privacy ensures that the scanning process itself does not inadvertently expose sensitive information.
The Bearer CLI supports a broad spectrum of popular programming languages, including Go, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, and Ruby. The tool is released under the Elastic License 2.0. This license permits organizations to use the CLI internally without commercial restrictions. However, any use case involving providing the tool to third parties as a hosted or managed service requires explicit approval from Bearer.
Bearer CLI is readily available for download and use on GitHub, promoting transparency and community contribution. This release aims to provide developers with a powerful, free, and effective tool to improve their application security practices, with a particular focus on data protection and risk prioritization.