---
stage: Secure
group: Static Analysis
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Scanning

> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/6655) in GitLab 14.5.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Scanning scans your IaC configuration files for known vulnerabilities.

Currently, IaC scanning supports configuration files for Terraform, Ansible, AWS CloudFormation, and Kubernetes.

## Requirements

To run IaC scanning jobs, by default, you need GitLab Runner with the
[`docker`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/executors/docker.html) or
[`kubernetes`](https://docs.gitlab.com/runner/install/kubernetes.html) executor.
If you're using the shared runners on GitLab.com, this is enabled by default.

WARNING:
Our IaC scanning jobs require a Linux container type. Windows containers are not yet supported.

WARNING:
If you use your own runners, make sure the Docker version installed
is **not** `19.03.0`. See [troubleshooting information](../sast/index.md#error-response-from-daemon-error-processing-tar-file-docker-tar-relocation-error) for details.

## Supported languages and frameworks

GitLab IaC scanning supports a variety of IaC configuration files. Our IaC security scanners also feature automatic language detection which works even for mixed-language projects. If any supported configuration files are detected in project source code we automatically run the appropriate IaC analyzers.

| Configuration File Type                  | Scan tool                        | Introduced in GitLab Version  |
|------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|-------------------------------|
| Ansible                                  | [kics](https://kics.io/)         | 14.5                          |
| AWS CloudFormation                       | [kics](https://kics.io/)         | 14.5                          |
| Kubernetes                               | [kics](https://kics.io/)         | 14.5                          |
| Terraform                                | [kics](https://kics.io/)         | 14.5                          |

### Making IaC analyzers available to all GitLab tiers

All open source (OSS) analyzers are availibile with the GitLab Free tier. Future propietary analyzers may be restricted to higher tiers. 

#### Summary of features per tier

Different features are available in different [GitLab tiers](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/),
as shown in the following table:

| Capability                                                                             | In Free             | In Ultimate        |
|:---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:--------------------|:-------------------|
| [Configure IaC Scanners](#configuration)                              v                | **{check-circle}**  | **{check-circle}** |
| View [JSON Report](#reports-json-format)                                               | **{check-circle}**  | **{check-circle}** |
| Presentation of JSON Report in Merge Request                                           | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [Address vulnerabilities](../../application_security/vulnerabilities/index.md)         | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |
| [Access to Security Dashboard](../../application_security/security_dashboard/index.md) | **{dotted-circle}** | **{check-circle}** |

## Contribute your scanner

The [Security Scanner Integration](../../../development/integrations/secure.md) documentation explains how to integrate other security scanners into GitLab.

## Configuration

To configure IaC Scanning for a project you can:

- [Configure IaC Scanning manually](#configure-iac-scanning-manually)
- [Enable IaC Scanning via an automatic merge request](#enable-iac-scanning-via-an-automatic-merge-request)

### Configure IaC Scanning manually

To enable IaC Scanning you must [include](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#includetemplate) the
[`SAST-IaC.latest.gitlab-ci.yml template`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/ci/templates/Security/SAST-IaC.latest.gitlab-ci.yml) provided as part of your GitLab installation.

The included template creates IaC scanning jobs in your CI/CD pipeline and scans
your project's configuration files for possible vulnerabilities.

The results are saved as a
[SAST report artifact](../../../ci/yaml/artifacts_reports.md#artifactsreportssast)
that you can download and analyze.

### Enable IaC Scanning via an automatic merge request

To enable IaC Scanning in a project, you can create a merge request
from the Security Configuration page:

1. On the top bar, select **Menu > Projects** and find your project.
1. On the left sidebar, select **Security & Compliance > Configuration**.
1. In the **Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Scanning** row, select **Configure via Merge Request**.

This automatically creates a merge request with the changes necessary to enable IaC Scanning
that you can review and merge to complete the configuration.

## Reports JSON format

The IaC tool emits a JSON report file in the existing SAST report format. For more information, see the
[schema for this report](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security-products/security-report-schemas/-/blob/master/dist/sast-report-format.json).

The JSON report file can be downloaded from the CI pipelines page, or the
pipelines tab on merge requests by [setting `artifacts: paths`](../../../ci/yaml/index.md#artifactspaths) to `gl-sast-report.json`. For more information see [Downloading artifacts](../../../ci/pipelines/job_artifacts.md).
