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Anatomy of an observation

Observation

Observation

  • The Severity can have 3 sources:
    • Initially the parser sets a severity, based on the incoming data.
    • If there is a rule configured that matches the observation, it overrides the severity set by the parser.
    • When a user assesses the observation and sets a different severity, this severity from the assessment overrides the severity set by a rule and the severity set by the parser.
  • The initial Status set by an import is Open. It will be set to Resolved if the same observation is not found in a subsequent import. On the other hand, resolved observations are set back to the status Open if they reappear in a later import.
    As for the severity, if a rule matches the observation or a user sets a different status in an assessment, these changes will override the status set by the import.
  • Title and Description are short and long explanations what the observation is about.
  • Scanners might suggest a Recommendation (not shown in the screenshot).

Vulnerability

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Vulnerability data can comprise a Vulnerability Id like a CVE or GHSA, a CVSSv3 score and CVSSv3 vector as well as a CWE number.

Origins

An observation can be found at different origins:

  • Service: A service is a self-contained piece of functionality within a product. This can be something like frontend or backend or the name of a microservice.
  • Component: Typically a library (Maven, NPM, PyPI, ...) or a program installed in a docker image, identified by name and version.
  • Docker image: Name and tag of a Docker image, where the observation was found.
  • Endpoint: The URL of a web address.
  • Source file: Path and name of a source file, start and end lines are optional. The source file will be shown as a link to the source in the repository, if a Repository prefix has been configured in the product.
  • Cloud: The name of the cloud provider, account (AWS) or subscription (Azure) or project (GCP), resource and resource type, where the observation was found.

Log

Every time either the severity or the status get changed by an import or an assessment, this event is recorded in the Observation Log together with a comment.

Potential duplicates

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If an observation has potential duplicates, they are listed here and can be marked as duplicates.

Metadata

Some information about how the observation was created or updated.

References

References are links to further information about the observation. They are imported with the observation.

Evidences

Evidences are extracts from the scan reports showing the basis on which the observation was created.