govulncheck

Overview ¶

Govulncheck reports known vulnerabilities that affect Go code. It uses static analysis of source code or a binary's symbol table to narrow down reports to only those that could affect the application.

By default, govulncheck makes requests to the Go vulnerability database at https://vuln.go.dev. Requests to the vulnerability database contain only module paths with vulnerabilities already known to the database, not code or other properties of your program. See https://vuln.go.dev/privacy.html for more. Use the -db flag to specify a different database, which must implement the specification at https://go.dev/security/vuln/database.

Govulncheck looks for vulnerabilities in Go programs using a specific build configuration. For analyzing source code, that configuration is the Go version specified by the “go” command found on the PATH. For binaries, the build configuration is the one used to build the binary. Note that different build configurations may have different known vulnerabilities.

Usage ¶

To analyze source code, run govulncheck from the module directory, using the same package path syntax that the go command uses:

$ cd my-module
$ govulncheck ./...

If no vulnerabilities are found, govulncheck will display a short message. If there are vulnerabilities, each is displayed briefly, with a summary of a call stack. The summary shows in brief how the package calls a vulnerable function. For example, it might say

main.go:[line]:[column]: mypackage.main calls golang.org/x/text/language.Parse

To control which files are processed, use the -tags flag to provide a comma-separated list of build tags, and the -test flag to indicate that test files should be included.

To include more detailed stack traces, pass '-show traces', this will cause it to print the full call stack for each entry.

To include progress messages and more details on findings, pass '-show verbose'.

To run govulncheck on a compiled binary, pass it the path to the binary file with the '-mode binary' flag:

$ govulncheck -mode binary $HOME/go/bin/my-go-program

Govulncheck uses the binary's symbol information to find mentions of vulnerable functions. Its output omits call stacks, which require source code analysis.

Govulncheck also supports '-mode extract' on a Go binary for extraction of minimal information needed to analyze the binary. This will produce a blob, typically much smaller than the binary, that can also be passed to govulncheck as an argument with '-mode binary'. The users should not rely on the contents or representation of the blob.

Integrations ¶

Govulncheck supports streaming JSON. For more details, please see golang.org/x/vuln/internal/govulncheck.

Govulncheck also supports Static Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF) output format, following the specification at https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=sarif. For more details, please see golang.org/x/vuln/internal/sarif.

Govulncheck supports the Vulnerability EXchange (VEX) output format, following the specification at https://github.com/openvex/spec. For more details, please see golang.org/x/vuln/internal/openvex.

Exit codes ¶

Govulncheck exits successfully (exit code 0) if there are no vulnerabilities, and exits unsuccessfully if there are. It also exits successfully if the 'format -json' ('-json'), '-format sarif', or '-format openvex' is provided, regardless of the number of detected vulnerabilities.

Limitations ¶

Govulncheck has these limitations:

• Govulncheck analyzes function pointer and interface calls conservatively, which may result in false positives or inaccurate call stacks in some cases.
• Calls to functions made using package reflect are not visible to static analysis. Vulnerable code reachable only through those calls will not be reported in source scan mode. Similarly, use of the unsafe package may result in false negatives.
• Because Go binaries do not contain detailed call information, govulncheck cannot show the call graphs for detected vulnerabilities. It may also report false positives for code that is in the binary but unreachable.
• There is no support for silencing vulnerability findings. See https://go.dev/issue/61211 for updates.
• Govulncheck reports only standard library vulnerabilities for binaries built with Go versions prior to Go 1.18.
• For binaries where the symbol information cannot be extracted, govulncheck reports vulnerabilities for all modules on which the binary depends.

Feedback ¶

To share feedback, see https://go.dev/security/vuln#feedback.