Comprehensive DevSecOps Pipeline Security Checklist 🔥

By Het Mehta | Published: 2025-06-03 | Last Updated: 6/11/2025

Introduction

DevSecOps integrates security into every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), shifting security "left" to identify and address vulnerabilities earlier. This checklist provides a structured approach to embedding security practices and tools throughout your CI/CD pipeline, fostering a culture of shared security responsibility.

⚙️ Key Principles & Environment Setup

Successful DevSecOps requires a blend of cultural shifts, process changes, and robust tooling. Ensure your environment supports these principles:

• Culture of Security: Foster shared responsibility for security among Dev, Sec, and Ops teams.
• Automation: Automate security checks and gates throughout the pipeline.
• Visibility & Feedback: Provide timely security feedback to developers.
• Compliance as Code: Define and enforce security policies programmatically.
• Tooling Integration: Integrate security tools seamlessly into existing CI/CD workflows.
• Centralized Logging & Monitoring: Implement robust logging and monitoring for security events.
• Common Tools: Git, Jenkins/GitLab CI/GitHub Actions/Azure DevOps, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud Platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Phase 1: Plan & Design Security 📐

Security begins even before a single line of code is written.

• Threat Modeling:
  • Conduct threat modeling for new features or significant architectural changes.
  • Identify potential threats, vulnerabilities, and attack surfaces.
  • Document identified threats and mitigation strategies.
  • Tools: OWASP Threat Dragon, Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool, Lucidchart/draw.io (for diagrams).
• Security Requirements & Architecture Review:
  • Define clear security requirements (e.g., based on OWASP ASVS, NIST 800-53).
  • Review architectural designs for security flaws (e.g., insecure communication, weak authentication flows).
  • Ensure secure defaults are established for all components.
  • Tools: Security Architecture Review Checklists, Compliance Frameworks.

Phase 2: Code & Commit Security 💻

Enforce secure coding practices and identify issues early in the development cycle.

• Secure Coding Practices:
  • Provide secure coding training to developers.
  • Establish and enforce secure coding guidelines (e.g., OWASP Cheat Sheets).
  • Implement peer code reviews with a security focus.
  • Tools: Code Review Checklists, Training Platforms (SANS, OWASP).
• Secrets Management:
  • Prevent hardcoding of secrets (API keys, passwords, connection strings) in code or configuration files.
  • Integrate a secrets management solution (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Azure Key Vault, Google Secret Manager).
  • Scan repositories for accidentally committed secrets.

    # Example: Using git-secrets to prevent committing secrets
    git secrets --install
    git secrets --add 'API_KEY='
    git secrets --add --file .env.example
    

  • Tools: GitGuardian, TruffleHog, git-secrets, secrets management platforms.
• Static Application Security Testing (SAST):
  • Integrate SAST tools into the CI pipeline to scan code for vulnerabilities (e.g., SQL Injection, XSS, insecure direct object references) before deployment.
  • Configure SAST to run on every commit or pull request.
  • Set up automated alerts and break builds on critical findings.

    # Example: GitLab CI/CD SAST job
    sast:
      stage: test
      image: docker:20.10.16
      variables:
        SAST_EXCLUDED_PATHS: "spec, test, tests, tmp"
      allow_failure: true
      script:
        - /analyzer run
      artifacts:
        reports:
          sast: gl-sast-report.json
    

  • Tools: SonarQube, Checkmarx, Fortify, Semgrep, Bandit (Python), ESLint (JavaScript).
• Software Composition Analysis (SCA):
  • Scan for vulnerable open-source components and libraries.
  • Automate dependency updates and vulnerability patching.
  • Maintain an inventory of all third-party components.

    # Example: Using Snyk to scan a project for vulnerabilities
    snyk test --file=package.json --org=<your-snyk-org-id>
    

  • Tools: Snyk, Dependabot, OWASP Dependency-Check, Black Duck.

Phase 3: Build & Artifact Security 🏗️

Secure the build process and the artifacts it produces.

• Secure Build Environment:
  • Ensure build agents/servers are hardened and regularly patched.
  • Use ephemeral build environments to prevent artifact contamination.
  • Restrict network access for build agents to only necessary resources.
  • Tools: CIS Benchmarks, OS hardening guides.
• Container Security (if applicable):
  • Scan container images for vulnerabilities during the build process.
  • Use minimal base images (e.g., Alpine, distroless).
  • Ensure containers run with least privilege (e.g., non-root user).
  • Sign container images to ensure authenticity.

    # Example: Dockerfile best practices for security
    FROM alpine:3.18
    WORKDIR /app
    COPY --from=builder /app/build /app
    USER nonrootuser
    EXPOSE 8080
    CMD ["/app/myapp"]
    

  • Tools: Trivy, Clair, Docker Scout, Aqua Security.
• Supply Chain Security:
  • Verify the integrity and authenticity of all external dependencies and artifacts.
  • Implement artifact signing and verification.
  • Use private/proxied package registries.
  • Tools: Notary, Sigstore, Nexus, Artifactory.

Phase 4: Test & Validate Security 🧪

Perform dynamic and interactive security testing to find runtime vulnerabilities.

• Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST):
  • Automate DAST scans against deployed applications in a test environment.
  • Include authenticated scans where possible.
  • Integrate DAST results into the CI/CD pipeline for automated gating.

    # Example: Running OWASP ZAP in a CI/CD pipeline
    docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/zap/wrk/:rw -t owasp/zap2docker-stable zap-baseline.py -t http://your-app-url.com -I -d
    

  • Tools: OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite Enterprise Edition, Acunetix, Qualys WAS.
• Interactive Application Security Testing (IAST):
  • Deploy IAST agents alongside the application in test environments.
  • Leverage existing functional tests to trigger IAST analysis.
  • Get real-time feedback on vulnerabilities as tests run.
  • Tools: Contrast Security, HCL AppScan, Veracode.
• Penetration Testing Integration:
  • Schedule regular manual penetration tests for critical applications.
  • Feed findings from manual tests back into the pipeline for regression testing.
  • Tools: Human Testers, Cobalt.io, HackerOne.
• Fuzz Testing:
  • Integrate fuzz testing for APIs and complex input parsers.
  • Identify unexpected behavior, crashes, or denial-of-service vulnerabilities.
  • Tools: Peach Fuzzer, American Fuzzy Lop (AFL), custom fuzzing scripts.

Phase 5: Deploy & Runtime Security 🚀

Ensure secure deployment and protect applications in production.

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security:
  • Scan IaC templates (Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible) for misconfigurations and security policy violations.
  • Enforce security policies before infrastructure is provisioned.

    # Example: Using Checkov to scan Terraform
    checkov -f main.tf --framework terraform
    

  • Tools: Checkov, Terrascan, Kics, Open Policy Agent (OPA).
• Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP):
  • Deploy RASP agents to monitor and protect applications in real-time against attacks.
  • RASP can detect and block attacks like SQLi, XSS, and deserialization exploits.
  • Tools: Contrast Protect, Imperva RASP, Signal Sciences (now Fastly WAF/RASP).
• Configuration Management:
  • Automate secure configuration of servers and applications.
  • Enforce least privilege for service accounts and application users.
  • Regularly audit configurations against security baselines.
  • Tools: Ansible, Chef, Puppet, SaltStack.
• Secrets Injection at Runtime:
  • Ensure secrets are injected securely at runtime and never stored directly in deployed artifacts.
  • Utilize environment variables or secrets management integrations for runtime secret access.
  • Tools: Kubernetes Secrets, Docker Secrets, Cloud-native secrets managers.

Phase 6: Operate & Monitor Security 監視

Continuously monitor for security events and manage vulnerabilities in production.

• Logging and Monitoring:
  • Implement comprehensive security logging (application logs, audit logs, network logs).
  • Centralize logs into a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system.
  • Set up real-time alerts for suspicious activities or security incidents.
  • Tools: Splunk, ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana), Sumo Logic, Datadog.
• Incident Response Integration:
  • Establish clear incident response procedures for security events.
  • Automate incident detection and initial response actions.
  • Conduct regular incident response drills.
  • Tools: PagerDuty, VictorOps, custom automation scripts.
• Vulnerability Management:
  • Continuously scan production environments for new vulnerabilities (VMs, containers, cloud resources).
  • Automate patching and remediation processes where possible.
  • Track and prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk.
  • Tools: Nessus, Qualys, Tenable.io, OpenVAS, cloud-native vulnerability scanners.
• Compliance & Auditing:
  • Ensure continuous compliance with regulatory requirements (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS).
  • Automate compliance checks and generate audit reports.
  • Tools: Cloud-native compliance services (AWS Config, Azure Policy), custom compliance scripts.

Resources

• OWASP Top 10
• OWASP Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS)
• OWASP Cheat Sheet Series
• NIST Special Publications (e.g., 800-53)
• CNCF Cloud Native Security Whitepaper
• CIS Benchmarks
• Snyk Learn: What is DevSecOps?
• HashiCorp Vault
• SonarQube
• OWASP ZAP
• Checkov (IaC Security)
• Docker Scout (Container Security)
• Elastic Stack (ELK)

Conclusion

Implementing DevSecOps is a continuous journey that requires commitment and adaptation. By integrating security practices and automated tools throughout your pipeline, you can build more secure applications, reduce risks, and respond more effectively to emerging threats. This checklist serves as a starting point to guide your DevSecOps transformation.