This skill covers integrating Aqua Security's Trivy scanner into CI/CD pipelines for comprehensive container image vulnerability detection. It addresses scanning Docker images for OS package and application dependency CVEs, detecting misconfigurations in Dockerfiles, scanning filesystem and git repositories, and establishing severity-based quality gates that block deployment of vulnerable images.
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This skill covers integrating Aqua Security's Trivy scanner into CI/CD pipelines for comprehensive container image vulnerability detection. It addresses scanning Docker images for OS package and application dependency CVEs, detecting misconfigurations in Dockerfiles, scanning filesystem and git repositories, and establishing severity-based quality gates that block deployment of vulnerable images.
When needing a single tool to scan OS packages, language-specific dependencies, and misconfigurations
Do not use for runtime container security monitoring (use Falco), for scanning running containers in production (use runtime agents), or when only scanning application source code without containerization (use SAST tools).
Prerequisites
Trivy CLI installed (v0.50+) or access to aquasecurity/trivy-action GitHub Action
Docker daemon available in CI/CD for building and scanning images
Container registry credentials for pulling base images and pushing scanned images
Trivy vulnerability database accessible (downloaded automatically or cached)
Workflow
Step 1: Configure Trivy Scanning in GitHub Actions
Set up a GitHub Actions workflow that builds a Docker image and scans it with Trivy before pushing to a container registry.
Step 4: Configure Trivy Ignore and Exception Handling
Manage false positives and accepted risks through Trivy's ignore file and VEX statements.
# .trivyignore.yamlvulnerabilities:-id:CVE-2023-44487# HTTP/2 rapid reset - mitigated at load balancerstatement:"Mitigated by WAF rate limiting at ingress layer"expires:2026-06-01-id:CVE-2024-21626# runc container escape - patched in base image updatestatement:"Tracked in JIRA-SEC-1234, base image update scheduled"expires:2026-03-15misconfigurations:-id:DS002# User not set - required for init containerspaths:-"docker/init-container/Dockerfile"statement:"Init container requires root for volume permission setup"
Step 5: Implement Database Caching and Offline Scanning
Cache the Trivy vulnerability database in CI/CD to reduce scan times and enable air-gapped environments.
# GitHub Actions with database caching-name:CacheTrivyDBuses:actions/cache@v4with:path:/tmp/trivy-dbkey:trivy-db-${{hashFiles('.github/workflows/container-security.yml')}}restore-keys:trivy-db--name:RunTrivywithcachedDBuses:aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.28.0with:image-ref:'app:${{ github.sha }}'cache-dir:/tmp/trivy-dbformat:'json'output:'trivy-results.json'severity:'CRITICAL,HIGH'exit-code:'1'
# Air-gapped: Download DB manually and mount
trivy image --download-db-only --cache-dir /path/to/cache
# Transfer cache to air-gapped system
trivy image --skip-db-update --cache-dir /path/to/cache myimage:tag
Step 6: Generate SBOM and Scan for License Compliance
Use Trivy to generate Software Bill of Materials alongside vulnerability scanning.
# Generate SBOM in CycloneDX format
trivy image --format cyclonedx --output sbom.cdx.json app:latest
# Generate SBOM in SPDX format
trivy image --format spdx-json --output sbom.spdx.json app:latest
# Scan SBOM for vulnerabilities (decouple generation from scanning)
trivy sbom sbom.cdx.json --severity CRITICAL,HIGH
# Scan with license detection
trivy image --scanners vuln,license --severity HIGH,CRITICAL app:latest
Key Concepts
Term
Definition
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures — standardized identifiers for publicly known security vulnerabilities
Vulnerability DB
Trivy's regularly updated database aggregating CVE data from NVD, vendor advisories, and language-specific sources
Misconfiguration
Security-relevant configuration issue in Dockerfiles, Kubernetes manifests, or IaC templates
SBOM
Software Bill of Materials — complete inventory of all components and dependencies in a container image
Ignore Unfixed
Flag to skip CVEs without available patches, reducing noise from vulnerabilities with no actionable fix
VEX
Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange — machine-readable statements about whether a vulnerability is exploitable in context
Exit Code
Non-zero return code from Trivy when findings exceed the severity threshold, used to fail CI/CD pipelines
Tools & Systems
Trivy: Open-source vulnerability scanner by Aqua Security supporting images, filesystems, repos, and IaC
trivy-action: Official GitHub Action for running Trivy scans in GitHub Actions workflows
Trivy Operator: Kubernetes operator that continuously scans cluster workloads with Trivy
Grype: Alternative image scanner by Anchore for comparison and validation of scan results
Harbor: Container registry with built-in Trivy integration for automatic image scanning on push
Common Scenarios
Scenario: Multi-Stage Build with Separate Scan and Push
Context: A team builds multi-stage Docker images and needs to scan the final production image before pushing to ECR, while also scanning the build stage for supply chain risks.
Approach:
Build the Docker image with --target production for the final stage
Run Trivy with --severity CRITICAL,HIGH --exit-code 1 --ignore-unfixed to block on exploitable issues
Generate an SBOM in CycloneDX format and store as a build artifact
Upload SARIF results to GitHub Security tab for visibility
Only push to ECR if the Trivy scan exits with code 0
Tag the pushed image with the scan timestamp and Trivy DB version for audit traceability
Pitfalls: Scanning only the final stage misses vulnerable packages that were present in build stages and may have influenced the build. Run trivy fs on the build context separately. Caching the Trivy DB too aggressively (weekly) means newly published CVEs take days to appear in scans.
Output Format
Trivy Container Scan Report
=============================
Image: app:a1b2c3d4
Base Image: python:3.12-slim-bookworm
Scan Date: 2026-02-23
DB Version: 2026-02-23T00:15:00Z
VULNERABILITY SUMMARY:
Total: 47
Critical: 2
High: 5
Medium: 18
Low: 22
Unfixed: 8 (excluded from gate)
CRITICAL FINDINGS:
CVE-2025-12345 libssl3 3.0.11-1 3.0.13-1 OpenSSL buffer overflow
CVE-2025-67890 curl 7.88.1-10 7.88.1-12 curl HSTS bypass
HIGH FINDINGS:
CVE-2025-11111 zlib1g 1.2.13 1.2.13.1 zlib heap buffer overflow
CVE-2025-22222 python3.12 3.12.1 3.12.3 CPython path traversal
CVE-2025-33333 requests 2.31.0 2.32.0 requests SSRF in redirects
MISCONFIGURATION:
DS002 [HIGH] Dockerfile: USER instruction not set (running as root)
DS026 [MEDIUM] Dockerfile: No HEALTHCHECK defined
QUALITY GATE: FAILED (2 Critical, 5 High findings)
