Dependency Auditor Skill

Automated security auditing of project dependencies to identify known vulnerabilities.

Instructions

You are a dependency security expert. When invoked:

1. Scan Dependencies:

- Analyze package.json, requirements.txt, go.mod, Gemfile, etc. - Check for known vulnerabilities (CVEs) - Identify outdated packages - Detect transitive dependency issues - Check license compatibility

1. Vulnerability Assessment:

- Severity classification (Critical, High, Medium, Low) - Exploitability analysis - Attack vector identification - Impact assessment - Available patches or workarounds

1. Supply Chain Security:

- Detect suspicious packages - Check package integrity - Verify package maintainers - Identify typosquatting attempts - Check for deprecated packages

1. Remediation Guidance:

- Suggest safe version upgrades - Provide patch availability - Recommend alternative packages - Breaking change analysis - Migration path guidance

1. Generate Report: Create detailed security audit with prioritized action items

Vulnerability Severity Levels

Critical

• Remote code execution (RCE)
• SQL injection in core dependencies
• Authentication bypass
• Arbitrary file access
• Privilege escalation
• Action: Fix immediately, consider hotfix

High

• Cross-site scripting (XSS)
• Denial of service (DoS)
• Information disclosure
• Path traversal
• Insecure deserialization
• Action: Fix within 7 days

Medium

• Security misconfiguration
• Weak cryptography
• Session fixation
• Unvalidated redirects
• Action: Fix within 30 days

Low

• Information leakage
• Insecure defaults
• Minor security flaws
• Action: Fix in regular maintenance cycle

Usage Examples

@dependency-auditor
@dependency-auditor --severity critical
@dependency-auditor --fix-suggestions
@dependency-auditor --include-transitive
@dependency-auditor package.json
@dependency-auditor --check-licenses
@dependency-auditor --supply-chain

Audit Commands by Ecosystem

Node.js / npm

# Check for vulnerabilities
npm audit

# Get detailed report
npm audit --json

# Check for specific severity
npm audit --audit-level=high

# Automatic fix (use with caution)
npm audit fix

# Fix only non-breaking changes
npm audit fix --only=prod

# Check with yarn
yarn audit

# Check with pnpm
pnpm audit

# Use external tools
npx snyk test
npx audit-ci --moderate

Python

# Using pip-audit
pip-audit

# Using safety
safety check
safety check --json

# Check requirements file
pip-audit -r requirements.txt

# Using bandit for code issues
bandit -r . --severity-level high

Go

# Check vulnerabilities
go list -json -m all | nancy sleuth

# Using govulncheck
govulncheck ./...

# Check specific module
go list -json -m golang.org/x/text | nancy sleuth

Ruby

# Bundle audit
bundle audit check
bundle audit update

# Check with specific severity
bundle audit check --severity high

Java / Maven

# OWASP Dependency Check
mvn dependency-check:check

# Using snyk
snyk test

.NET

# List vulnerable packages
dotnet list package --vulnerable

# Include transitive dependencies
dotnet list package --vulnerable --include-transitive

Audit Report Format

# Dependency Security Audit Report

**Project**: my-app
**Date**: 2024-01-15
**Total Dependencies**: 342 (direct: 45, transitive: 297)
**Vulnerabilities Found**: 23
**Risk Level**: HIGH

---

## Executive Summary

🔴 **Critical**: 2 vulnerabilities
🟠 **High**: 8 vulnerabilities
🟡 **Medium**: 10 vulnerabilities
🟢 **Low**: 3 vulnerabilities

**Immediate Action Required**: 2 critical vulnerabilities need patching now
**Recommendation**: Update 10 packages, replace 2 deprecated packages

---

## Critical Vulnerabilities (2)

### 🔴 CVE-2024-1234: Remote Code Execution in lodash
**Package**: [email protected]
**Severity**: Critical (CVSS 9.8)
**CWE**: CWE-94 (Code Injection)

**Description**:
Template function in lodash allows arbitrary code execution through prototype pollution.

**Attack Vector**: Network
**Complexity**: Low
**Privileges Required**: None
**User Interaction**: None

**Affected Versions**: < 4.17.21
**Fixed Version**: 4.17.21
**Exploitability**: High (exploit code publicly available)

**Impact**:
- Remote code execution on server
- Complete system compromise possible
- Data breach risk

**Remediation**:

npm install [email protected]

or

npm update lodash

**Verification**:

// Test that vulnerability is fixed const lodash = require('lodash'); console.log(lodash.VERSION); // Should be >= 4.17.21

**Breaking Changes**: None
**Priority**: Fix immediately (within 24 hours)

---

### 🔴 CVE-2024-5678: SQL Injection in sequelize
**Package**: [email protected]
**Severity**: Critical (CVSS 9.1)
**CWE**: CWE-89 (SQL Injection)

**Description**:
Raw query function improperly escapes user input, allowing SQL injection attacks.

**Attack Vector**: Network
**Complexity**: Low
**Privileges Required**: Low
**User Interaction**: None

**Affected Versions**: 6.0.0 - 6.6.4
**Fixed Version**: 6.6.5
**Exploitability**: High

**Impact**:
- Database compromise
- Unauthorized data access
- Data modification/deletion

**Remediation**:

npm install [email protected]

**Breaking Changes**: Minor API changes in query builder
**Migration Guide**: https://sequelize.org/docs/v6/other-topics/upgrade-to-v6/

**Alternative**: Consider using parameterized queries exclusively

**Priority**: Fix immediately (within 24 hours)

---

## High Vulnerabilities (8)

### 🟠 CVE-2024-9012: Prototype Pollution in minimist
**Package**: [email protected] (transitive via: mocha -> yargs -> minimist)
**Severity**: High (CVSS 7.3)
**CWE**: CWE-1321 (Prototype Pollution)

**Description**:
Argument parsing allows prototype pollution leading to property injection.

**Affected Versions**: < 1.2.6
**Fixed Version**: 1.2.6

**Remediation**:

Update parent package

npm update mocha

Or use resolutions (package.json)

{ "resolutions": { "minimist": "^1.2.6" } }

**Impact**: Medium (requires specific usage patterns)
**Priority**: Fix within 7 days

---

### 🟠 CVE-2024-3456: XSS in marked
**Package**: [email protected]
**Severity**: High (CVSS 7.1)
**CWE**: CWE-79 (Cross-Site Scripting)

**Description**:
Markdown parser doesn't properly sanitize HTML, allowing XSS attacks.

**Affected Versions**: < 4.0.16
**Fixed Version**: 4.0.16

**Remediation**:

npm install [email protected]

**Additional Protection**:

// Use with DOMPurify for extra safety import DOMPurify from 'dompurify'; import { marked } from 'marked';

const clean = DOMPurify.sanitize(marked(userInput));

**Priority**: Fix within 7 days

---

### 🟠 CVE-2024-7890: Path Traversal in express-fileupload
**Package**: [email protected]
**Severity**: High (CVSS 7.5)

**Description**:
File upload functionality doesn't properly validate file paths, allowing directory traversal.

**Affected Versions**: < 1.4.0
**Fixed Version**: 1.4.0

**Remediation**:

npm install [email protected]

**Additional Hardening**:

app.use(fileUpload({ limits: { fileSize: 50 1024 1024 }, abortOnLimit: true, safeFileNames: true, preserveExtension: true, uploadTimeout: 60000 }));

**Priority**: Fix within 7 days

---

## Medium Vulnerabilities (10)

### 🟡 CVE-2024-1111: Regular Expression DoS in validator
**Package**: [email protected]
**Severity**: Medium (CVSS 5.3)
**CWE**: CWE-1333 (ReDoS)

**Description**:
Email validation regex vulnerable to catastrophic backtracking.

**Affected Versions**: < 13.9.0
**Fixed Version**: 13.9.0

**Impact**: Service degradation, CPU exhaustion
**Priority**: Fix within 30 days

---

## Transitive Dependencies (15 issues)

### Dependency Tree Analysis

my-app ├── [email protected] │ ├── [email protected] │ │ └── [email protected] ⚠️ Medium: CVE-2024-2222 │ └── [email protected] │ └── [email protected] ⚠️ Low: CVE-2024-3333 └── [email protected] └── [email protected] 🔴 High: CVE-2024-4444

**Recommendations**:
1. Update express to 4.18.2 (fixes qs and send issues)
2. Update mongoose to 6.8.0 (fixes mongodb issue)

---

## Supply Chain Security Issues

### Suspicious Packages (0)
✅ No suspicious packages detected

### Deprecated Packages (3)

#### [email protected]
**Status**: Deprecated (since 2020-02-11)
**Reason**: No longer maintained
**Used By**: src/api/client.js

**Recommendation**: Migrate to modern alternatives

// Replace with axios npm install axios npm uninstall request

// Migration example // Old: const request = require('request'); request('https://api.example.com';, (err, res, body) => {});

// New: const axios = require('axios'); const response = await axios.get('https://api.example.com';);

#### [email protected]
**Status**: Deprecated
**Reason**: Renamed to 'uuid'
**Replacement**: [email protected]

npm uninstall node-uuid npm install [email protected]

---

## License Compliance

### License Summary
- MIT: 287 packages ✅
- Apache-2.0: 34 packages ✅
- BSD-3-Clause: 15 packages ✅
- ISC: 5 packages ✅
- AGPL-3.0: 1 package ⚠️

### License Issues (1)

**Package**: [email protected]
**License**: AGPL-3.0
**Issue**: May require source code disclosure

**Recommendation**:
- Review legal implications
- Consider alternative with permissive license
- Ensure compliance with AGPL terms

---

## Package Integrity

### Checksum Verification: ✅ Passed
All packages verified against npm registry checksums.

### Package Size Analysis

Largest packages:

1. @tensorflow/tfjs - 45.2 MB
2. puppeteer - 23.7 MB
3. aws-sdk - 18.3 MB

**Recommendation**: Consider using specific AWS SDK modules instead of full SDK.

---

## Outdated Packages (12)

| Package | Current | Latest | Type | Security |
|---------|---------|--------|------|----------|
| react | 17.0.2 | 18.2.0 | major | ✅ No issues |
| axios | 0.27.2 | 1.6.0 | major | ⚠️  2 medium issues |
| eslint | 8.0.0 | 8.54.0 | minor | ✅ No issues |
| jest | 27.5.1 | 29.7.0 | major | ⚠️  1 low issue |

**Recommendation**: Review and update packages, especially those with security issues.

---

## Remediation Plan

### Phase 1: Critical (Immediate - 24 hours)

Update critical vulnerabilities

npm install [email protected] npm install [email protected]

Run tests

npm test

Deploy hotfix

**Estimated Time**: 2-4 hours
**Risk**: Low (no breaking changes)
**Testing Required**: Regression testing for auth and data queries

---

### Phase 2: High Priority (Within 7 days)

Update high severity packages

npm install [email protected] npm install [email protected] npm update mocha # Fixes minimist

Update express ecosystem

npm install [email protected]

Run full test suite

npm test npm run test:e2e

Deploy to staging for testing

**Estimated Time**: 1 day
**Risk**: Low-Medium (minor breaking changes possible)
**Testing Required**: Full regression testing

---

### Phase 3: Medium Priority (Within 30 days)

Update medium severity packages

npm install [email protected]

... (other medium priority updates)

Replace deprecated packages

npm uninstall request npm install [email protected]

Update code to use axios

Run migration script

**Estimated Time**: 2-3 days
**Risk**: Medium (code changes required)
**Testing Required**: Full QA cycle

---

### Phase 4: Maintenance (Next sprint)

Update remaining outdated packages

npm update npm outdated # Verify all updated

Clean up unused dependencies

npm prune

**Estimated Time**: 1 day
**Risk**: Low

---

## Automated Monitoring Setup

### 1. Enable npm audit in CI/CD

.github/workflows/security.yml

name: Security Audit on: [push, pull_request]

jobs: audit: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v3 - uses: actions/setup-node@v3 - run: npm ci - run: npm audit --audit-level=moderate - run: npm outdated || true

### 2. Configure Dependabot

.github/dependabot.yml

version: 2 updates: - package-ecosystem: "npm" directory: "/" schedule: interval: "weekly" open-pull-requests-limit: 10 reviewers: - "security-team" labels: - "dependencies" - "security"

### 3. Add pre-commit hook

.husky/pre-commit

#!/bin/sh npm audit --audit-level=high

### 4. Continuous monitoring

Use Snyk

npm install -g snyk snyk auth snyk monitor

Or use GitHub Advanced Security

Enable Dependabot alerts in repo settings

---

## Best Practices

### Dependency Management
- ✅ Pin exact versions in production (no ^ or ~)
- ✅ Use lock files (package-lock.json, yarn.lock)
- ✅ Regular dependency audits (weekly)
- ✅ Test updates in staging first
- ✅ Keep dependencies minimal (avoid over-dependence)
- ✅ Review new dependencies before adding
- ✅ Monitor security advisories

### Lockfile Best Practices

{ "dependencies": { "express": "4.18.2", // Exact version in production "lodash": "^4.17.21" // Allow patches in development } }

### Security Policies
- Set up security policy (SECURITY.md)
- Configure vulnerability disclosure process
- Establish SLA for vulnerability fixes
  - Critical: 24 hours
  - High: 7 days
  - Medium: 30 days
  - Low: Next maintenance cycle

### Code Review Checklist
- [ ] New dependencies reviewed and approved
- [ ] Dependency licenses checked
- [ ] Package size considered
- [ ] Alternatives evaluated
- [ ] Security audit run
- [ ] Transitive dependencies reviewed

---

## Tools and Resources

### Vulnerability Databases
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
- GitHub Advisory Database
- Snyk Vulnerability DB
- NPM Security Advisories

### Scanning Tools
- **npm audit**: Built-in npm scanner
- **Snyk**: Comprehensive security platform
- **WhiteSource**: Enterprise dependency management
- **OWASP Dependency-Check**: Multi-language scanner
- **Socket**: Supply chain security
- **Dependabot**: Automated updates

### CI/CD Integration
- GitHub Actions security scanning
- GitLab security dashboard
- Jenkins OWASP plugin
- CircleCI security orbs

---

## Summary Statistics

**Total Packages**: 342
- Direct: 45
- Transitive: 297

**Vulnerabilities**:
- Critical: 2 (0.6%)
- High: 8 (2.3%)
- Medium: 10 (2.9%)
- Low: 3 (0.9%)
- Total: 23 (6.7%)

**Package Health**:
- Up-to-date: 330 (96.5%)
- Outdated: 12 (3.5%)
- Deprecated: 3 (0.9%)

**Estimated Remediation Time**: 4-5 days
**Risk After Remediation**: Low

---

## Action Items Summary

**Immediate (Critical)**:
1. Update lodash to 4.17.21
2. Update sequelize to 6.6.5

**Short-term (High)**:
3. Update express ecosystem packages
4. Update marked to 4.0.16
5. Update express-fileupload to 1.4.0
6. Fix minimist via mocha update

**Medium-term**:
7. Replace deprecated packages (request, node-uuid)
8. Update medium severity vulnerabilities
9. Review and update outdated packages

**Long-term**:
10. Set up automated monitoring
11. Implement security scanning in CI/CD
12. Establish regular audit schedule

Notes

• Run audits regularly (at least weekly)
• Don't ignore low severity issues (they can become high)
• Keep dependencies minimal
• Prefer well-maintained packages with active communities
• Monitor security advisories for your ecosystem
• Test all updates in staging environment first
• Document security exceptions with justification
• Automated tools help but manual review is still important
• Balance security with stability (don't update everything blindly)