DockSec

AI-powered Docker security scanner that explains vulnerabilities in plain English

What is DockSec?

DockSec is an OWASP Lab Project that bridges the gap between complex security scan results and actionable developer fixes. It integrates industry-standard scanners (Trivy, Hadolint, Docker Scout) with AI to provide context-aware security analysis.

Instead of overwhelming you with a list of 200+ CVEs, DockSec:

• Prioritizes what actually affects your specific container setup.
• Explains vulnerabilities in plain English, not just security jargon.
• Suggests specific fixes for your Dockerfile.
• Generates professional, interactive security reports for your team.

Everything scans locally; the only thing that ever leaves your machine is the (secret-redacted) file content sent to the AI provider you choose - and with a local model or scan-only mode, nothing leaves at all. See Data flow and privacy.

How It Works

DockSec workflow: from scanning to actionable insights

DockSec follows a four-stage pipeline:

1. Scan: Runs Trivy, Hadolint, and Docker Scout locally on your environment.
2. Analyze: AI correlates findings across all scanners to remove noise and assess real-world impact.
3. Recommend: Generates human-readable explanations and specific remediation steps.
4. Report: Exports actionable results as HTML, PDF, JSON, CSV, SARIF, and CycloneDX SBOM.

Getting Started

1. Prerequisites

DockSec orchestrates local scanners, so it needs:

Or let DockSec install Trivy and Hadolint for you:

python -m docksec.setup_external_tools

2. Install DockSec

# Full install with AI analysis support (recommended)
pip install "docksec[ai]"

# Or the slim, scan-only core (no LLM dependencies, no API key needed)
pip install docksec

3. Run your first scan

No API key needed for local scanning:

docksec Dockerfile --scan-only

Every scan ends with a result summary: a severity table, a 0-100 security score with a rating, a "Quick take" action block, the generated reports (saved to ~/.docksec/results/ by default), and a suggested next command.

4. Enable AI analysis

AI analysis explains findings and suggests fixes. Pick a provider, set its API key, and run:

# OpenAI (default provider)
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
docksec Dockerfile

# Anthropic Claude
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."
docksec Dockerfile --ai-only --provider anthropic --model claude-sonnet-5

# Google Gemini
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="..."
docksec Dockerfile --ai-only --provider google

# Ollama (fully local, no API key, data never leaves your machine)
docksec Dockerfile --ai-only --provider ollama --model llama3.1

Each provider has a sensible default model (OpenAI: gpt-4o, Anthropic: claude-haiku-4-5, Google: gemini-1.5-pro, Ollama: llama3.1), so --model is optional. To avoid repeating flags, set environment variables (or put them in a .env file in the directory you run from - DockSec loads it automatically):

export LLM_PROVIDER=anthropic
export LLM_MODEL=claude-sonnet-5
docksec Dockerfile

Before any content is sent to an AI provider, secret-looking values (passwords, tokens, API keys, private key blocks) are masked automatically. See Data flow and privacy.

5. Or use the GitHub Action

- name: Run DockSec AI Scanner
  uses: OWASP/[email protected]
  with:
    dockerfile: 'Dockerfile'
    openai_api_key: ${{ secrets.OPENAI_API_KEY }}

Common Commands

# Scan Dockerfile + Docker image (AI + scanners)
docksec Dockerfile -i myapp:latest

# Scan a Docker Compose file and all its services
docksec --compose docker-compose.yml

# Scan only a Docker image
docksec --image-only -i myapp:latest

# Fast local scan, no AI, no API key
docksec Dockerfile --scan-only

# Choose which severity levels the image scan reports (default: CRITICAL,HIGH)
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --severity CRITICAL,HIGH,MEDIUM

# Fail the build (exit 1) if any finding is HIGH or above
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --fail-on high

# Write only the report formats you want, to a directory of your choice
docksec Dockerfile --scan-only --format json,html --output-dir ./reports

# Print results as JSON to stdout for scripts and CI pipelines
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --json

# Write a SARIF report for GitHub Code Scanning
docksec Dockerfile --scan-only --sarif

# Write a CycloneDX SBOM of an image for supply-chain tooling
docksec --image-only -i myapp:latest --sbom

# Fully offline scan: local Trivy DB, no network, no AI
docksec --image-only -i myapp:latest --offline

# Save today's findings as a baseline, then only gate on new findings later
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --baseline .docksec-baseline.json --update-baseline
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --baseline .docksec-baseline.json --fail-on high

# Suppress triaged findings with an auditable ignore file
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --ignore-file .docksec-ignore.yml

# Force a fresh scan, bypassing the results cache
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --no-cache

# Install AI-assistant skill files (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and more)
docksec install-skill

# Output control
docksec Dockerfile --scan-only --quiet                  # warnings, errors, summary only
docksec Dockerfile --scan-only --verbose                # INFO-level diagnostics on stderr
docksec Dockerfile --scan-only --verbose --log-file logs/docksec.log
docksec Dockerfile --no-color                           # also honors NO_COLOR

Configuration file

Commit a .docksec.yml at the root of your repository and the whole team - and every CI job - scans under the same policy, instead of each developer passing their own flags.

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://owasp.org/DockSec/docksec-config-schema.json
severity: CRITICAL,HIGH
fail_on: HIGH
formats: [json, html]
output_dir: ./security-reports

rules:
  disabled:
    - compose-missing-healthcheck

Every setting is optional; anything you leave out falls back to the environment variable and then to the built-in default. A full annotated example is in examples/.docksec.yml.

Precedence

Highest priority first:

CLI flag  >  environment variable  >  .docksec.yml  >  built-in default

So a committed severity: LOW is still overridden by --severity CRITICAL on the command line, and by DOCKSEC_DEFAULT_SEVERITY in the environment.

Discovery

DockSec looks for .docksec.yml (or .docksec.yaml) in the working directory and then walks up to the repository root, so a service in a monorepo subdirectory inherits the policy committed at the top level. The search stops at the directory containing .git, so it never picks up a file from outside the repository.

• --config FILE uses a specific file instead of searching.
• --no-config ignores any config file, for reproducible CI runs.

The config file in force is shown in the scan banner, so it is always clear which policy was applied.

Settings

An invalid config file - an unknown key, a bad severity - is a hard error that exits 2 rather than a warning, so a broken policy file can never cause a scan to run under rules the team did not commit.

Editor autocomplete

The # yaml-language-server: comment on the first line gives completion and inline validation in VS Code and JetBrains editors. The schema is published at docs/docksec-config-schema.json and can be regenerated with docksec --print-config-schema.

Disabling rules

rules.disabled switches a check off entirely, everywhere - it is removed before scoring, reports, --json, and the --fail-on gate. Use it for checks that do not apply to your environment. For individual findings your team has triaged and accepted, prefer the waiver file, whose entries carry a reason and an expiry date and so stay auditable.

CI/CD Integration

Exit codes

DockSec uses CI-friendly exit codes so builds and shells can react to results:

--fail-on gates on the structured findings (image vulnerabilities and compose misconfigurations). When --fail-on is below the requested --severity, the scan severity is widened automatically so the gate can observe those findings.

Machine-readable output

--json prints a single JSON object to stdout (scan info, vulnerabilities, severity counts, and any AI findings) instead of the human-readable summary, so it can be piped straight into other tools:

docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --json | jq '.severity_counts'

With --json alone, no report files are written; combine it with --format to write files and print JSON in the same run. All human-readable messages move to stderr in --json mode, so stdout only ever contains the JSON payload.

SARIF output for GitHub Code Scanning

--sarif writes a SARIF 2.1.0 report alongside the other report formats. Upload it with the standard github/codeql-action/upload-sarif action to see findings annotated directly on pull requests and in the Security tab:

- name: Run DockSec
  uses: OWASP/[email protected]
  with:
    dockerfile: 'Dockerfile'
    sarif: 'true'

- name: Upload SARIF to GitHub Code Scanning
  uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
  if: always()
  with:
    sarif_file: ~/.docksec/results

if: always() is important: without it, the upload step is skipped whenever --fail-on causes DockSec to exit non-zero, losing the findings exactly when they matter most.

Baseline / ratchet mode

--baseline FILE lets you adopt --fail-on on an existing project without a wall of pre-existing findings blocking every build. Run once with --update-baseline to snapshot today's findings, then commit the baseline file; from then on, --fail-on only gates on findings that aren't already in the baseline:

# Snapshot current findings (does not gate)
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --baseline .docksec-baseline.json --update-baseline

# Later runs only fail on NEW findings above the threshold
docksec -i myapp:latest --image-only --baseline .docksec-baseline.json --fail-on high

Findings are matched by vulnerability ID, target, and package name, so the baseline stays valid as unrelated findings come and go. Re-run with --update-baseline whenever you want to accept the current state as the new baseline.

Ignoring findings (waivers)

--ignore-file FILE suppresses individual findings a team has triaged and accepted. Unlike the baseline (a point-in-time snapshot), the ignore file is an explicit, reviewable list where every entry carries a reason and an optional expiry date. If a .docksec-ignore.yml file exists in the current directory, it is picked up automatically.

# .docksec-ignore.yml
ignores:
  - id: CVE-2023-45853              # Trivy vulnerability ID or DockSec rule ID
    reason: "zlib CVE; code path not reachable, vendor fix pending"
    expires: 2026-12-31              # optional; entry stops applying after this date
  - id: compose-missing-healthcheck
    reason: "healthchecks are handled by the orchestrator"

Suppressed findings are removed before scoring, reports, --json output, and the --fail-on gate. Expired entries stop applying automatically (with a warning), and entries without a reason are flagged so waivers stay auditable. Commit the file to version control so suppressions are reviewed like any other change.

Reports

Report formats

By default every scan writes four report files; use --format to pick a subset:

• html: An interactive, visually clean web report: severity cards, score rating, full vulnerability table with fixed versions, and the complete AI findings.
• pdf: A portable, presentation-ready document.
• json: Full, machine-readable scan data (same shape as --json stdout output).
• csv: A spreadsheet-ready table of individual vulnerabilities.

Note on CSV behavior: with zero vulnerabilities, DockSec still writes a header-only CSV (column names, no rows) so downstream automation never breaks on a missing or empty file. This is intentional.

CycloneDX SBOM

--sbom writes a CycloneDX software bill of materials (<image>.cdx.json) of the scanned image, listing every package component plus known vulnerabilities. The BOM is produced by Trivy's native exporter (so it is spec-compliant) and DockSec stamps itself into the tool metadata. Feed it into Dependency-Track, GitHub's dependency graph, or any other SBOM consumer:

docksec --image-only -i myapp:latest --sbom

--sbom needs a single image (-i), so it is skipped for compose runs. Like --sarif, it is independent of --format.

Data flow and privacy

DockSec is designed so you always know what leaves your machine:

• Scanning is fully local. Trivy, Hadolint, and the security score run on your machine. Image contents are never uploaded anywhere by DockSec.
• AI analysis sends only the scanned file. When the AI pass runs, the Dockerfile or compose file content (plus a short summary of vulnerability counts for scoring) is sent to the LLM provider you configured. Nothing else is transmitted.
• Secrets are redacted before they leave. Secret-looking values (passwords, tokens, API keys, private key blocks) in the file are masked before the content is sent to the AI provider. Key names stay visible so exposed credentials are still flagged. Use --no-redact to opt out.
• Fully local AI is supported. Use --provider ollama to keep the AI analysis on your own hardware, or --scan-only / --offline to skip AI entirely.
• No telemetry. DockSec collects no usage data and phones home to nothing.

Offline mode

--offline runs a scan with no network access. It uses the Trivy vulnerability database already on disk (no DB update) and skips the AI analysis and the Docker Scout advanced scan, both of which require network. This is the simplest way to scan in an air-gapped or locked-down environment:

docksec --image-only -i myapp:latest --offline

Make sure the Trivy DB has been downloaded at least once (any prior online scan does this) before relying on --offline.

Scan results cache

Image scan results are cached (default: 24 hours, override with DOCKSEC_CACHE_TTL_HOURS) and keyed by the image's content digest, so a rebuilt tag such as a reused :latest always gets a fresh scan. Use --no-cache (or DOCKSEC_USE_CACHE=false) to bypass the cache for a run.

AI-assistant skills (install-skill)

docksec install-skill writes DockSec usage instructions into the well-known context files for popular AI coding assistants, so an assistant working in your repo knows how to invoke DockSec:

docksec install-skill

This creates or updates:

• .claude/commands/docksec.md (Claude Code slash command /docksec)
• .cursor/rules/docksec.mdc (Cursor)
• AGENTS.md (Codex CLI), GEMINI.md (Gemini CLI)
• .github/copilot-instructions.md (GitHub Copilot)

The files are plain text you can review and commit; nothing is executed. Re-running the command updates the DockSec section in place instead of duplicating it.

Features

• Smart Analysis: AI explains what vulnerabilities mean for your specific setup.
• Multi-LLM Support: OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or local models via Ollama.
• Privacy First: Secret values are redacted before any content reaches an AI provider, scanning is fully local, and there is no telemetry.
• Docker Compose Scanning: Detect orchestration-level misconfigurations and scan all services in a compose file.
• Deep Integration: Combines Trivy (vulnerabilities), Hadolint (linting), and Docker Scout.
• Security Scoring: A 0-100 score with a rating to track your security posture over time.
• Rich Formats: HTML (interactive), PDF, JSON, CSV, SARIF, and CycloneDX SBOM.
• CI/CD Ready: --fail-on exit codes, baseline/ratchet mode, auditable waivers, JSON-to-stdout, and a GitHub Action on the Marketplace.
• Offline Mode: Scan fully air-gapped (--offline) using the local Trivy database.
• AI-Assistant Skills: docksec install-skill teaches Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and others how to run DockSec in your repo.

How DockSec Compares

DockSec is the only one of these that pairs contextual Dockerfile remediation with a fully open source, OWASP-governed, locally runnable design. Snyk and Aikido offer capable AI remediation, but only as commercial cloud platforms that send your data to their service. Trivy is open source and local but stops at detection and does not help you fix anything. DockSec fills the gap for developers and for regulated or air-gapped teams who need both the fix guidance and full control of their data, at no cost.

Roadmap

See ROADMAP.md for where DockSec is heading: registry scanning without a local Docker daemon, a repo-level policy config file, Jenkins/GitLab/Azure DevOps templates, an official container image, Kubernetes and Helm scanning, and more. Feedback and votes on priorities are welcome in issues and on OWASP Slack.

Contributing

DockSec thrives on community contributions. Whether you are a developer, designer, or security enthusiast, there are many ways to get involved:

• Code Contributions: Fix bugs or add new features.
• Documentation: Improve guides or create tutorials.
• Issue Reporting: Identify and report bugs.
• Feedback: Share your experience and suggestions.

To get started, check out our Contributing Guidelines, Code of Conduct, and Sponsorship Guide.

Leaders and Community

DockSec is led by a dedicated team committed to making container security accessible:

• Advait Patel - Project Lead
• Arkadii Yakovets - Project Co-lead

Find us here:

• OWASP Project Page: owasp.org/DockSec/
• OWASP Slack: #project-docksec
• PyPI: pypi.org/project/docksec/
• Issues: Report a bug
• Changelog: CHANGELOG.md