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Import observations

Import from CI pipelines via the API

GitHub actions and GitLab CI templates support running vulnerability checks and importing the results into SecObserve via GitHub workflows or GitLab CI pipelines in an efficient way.

Import from the frontend

Alternatively observations can be imported via the user interface. When showing a product, there are buttons to either upload a file or to import from an API:

Start import

Upload of files

Upload of files

A file and a respective parser for the file format need to be selected. Optional are attributes for the branch / version, the origin as service, docker image and endpoint URL.

API import

API import

Before importing observations from an API, an API configuration needs to be created for the product. This API configuration specifies how to access the API (URL, API key,Query, Basic Authentication, SSL Verify, ...). Optional for the import are attributes for the branch / version, the origin as service, docker image and endpoint URL.

Import algorithm

The import algorithm has to decide, if an observation already exists and needs to be updated or it is new and needs to be created. But how does the import algorithm identifies an observation to make this decision? Two terms help to understand how that works:

  • Identity hash: The identity hash is a SHA256 hash code of the concatenation of the observation's title and all its origins [1]. Two observations with the same identity hash are defined as identical.
  • Vulnerability check: An import for one product, one branch / version and one file name resp. one API configuration is a so-called vulnerability check.

A flowchart visualizes the import algorithm:

    flowchart TD
    read(Read observations for a vulnerability check) --> all_observations{For all observations of this vulnerability check}
    all_observations -- with observation --> identity{Identical observation in the same vulnerability check?}
    subgraph Create or update
    identity -- yes --> update(Update existing observation)
    identity -- no --> create(Create new observation)
    end
    all_observations -- finished ----> resolved(Set status to **Resolved** for all untouched observations of this vulnerability check)

[1]: The tag of the docker image is not part of the identity hash to allow updates of the docker image without creating a new observation.

Initial status of observations

The initial status of imported observations is Open by default. If the attribute Status "In review" for new observations in a Product or a Product Group is set to true, the initial status of new observations will be In review for the respective Product or all Products of the Product Group.