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GitHub Actions is a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform that allows you to automate your build, test, and deployment pipeline. You can use GitHub Actions to include Endor Labs into your CI pipeline seamlessly. Using this pipeline, developers can view and detect:
  • Policy violations in the source code
  • Secrets inadvertently included in the source code
The Endor Labs verifications are conducted as automated checks and help you discover violations before pushing code to the repository. Information about the violations can be included as comments on the corresponding pull request (PR). This enables developers to easily identify issues and take remedial measures early in the development life cycle.
  • For policy violations, the workflow is designed to either emit a warning or return an error based on your action policy configurations.
  • For secrets discovered in the commits, developers can view the PR comments and take necessary remedial measures.

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Install Software Prerequisites

To ensure the successful execution of the Endor Labs GitHub action, the following prerequisites must be met:
  • The GitHub action must be able to authenticate with the Endor Labs API.
  • You must have the value of the Endor Labs namespace handy for authentication.
  • You must have access to the Endor Labs API.
  • If you use keyless authentication, you must set an authorization policy in Endor Labs. See Authorization policies for details.

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Secure GitHub Actions with immutable commit SHA

Endor Labs recommends pinning the commit SHA of the GitHub Actions to enhance security. By pinning GitHub Actions to a commit SHA, you make the code immutable even if the tag version is changed or the code is updated. To manually find the Endor Labs GitHub action’s latest commit SHA:
  1. Go to Endor Labs GitHub Actions and select the latest release version in Releases.
  2. Click the commit of the release. Select commit SHA of latest release
  3. Copy the commit SHA from the URL. The commit SHA is the 40-character alphanumeric string in the URL after /commit/. Copy commit SHA

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Example GitHub Action Workflow

Endor Labs scanning workflow using GitHub Actions that accomplishes the following tasks in your CI environment:
  • Tests PRs to the default branch and monitors the most recent push to the default branch.
  • Builds a Java project and sets up the Java build tools. If your project is not on Java, then configure this workflow with your project-specific steps and build tools.
  • Authenticates to Endor Labs with GitHub Actions keyless authentication.
  • Scan with Endor Labs.
  • Comments on PRs if any policy violations occur.
  • Generates findings and uploads results to GitHub in SARIF format.
The following example workflow shows how to scan with Endor Labs for a Java application using the recommended keyless authentication for GitHub Actions. 
name: Endor Labs Dependency and Secrets Scan
on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]
  pull_request:
    branches: [ main ]
jobs:
  scan:
    permissions:
      security-events: write # Used to upload Sarif artifact to GitHub
      contents: read # Used to check out a private repository
      actions: read # Required for private repositories to upload Sarif files. GitHub Advanced Security licenses are required.
      id-token: write # Used for keyless authentication with Endor Labs
      pull-requests: write # Required to automatically comment on PRs for new policy violations
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout Repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Setup Java
      uses: actions/setup-java@v3
      with:
        distribution: 'microsoft'
        java-version: '17'
    - name: Build Package
      run: mvn clean install
    - name: Endor Labs Scan Pull Request
      if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
      uses: endorlabs/github-action@v1 # Replace v1 with the commit SHA of the latest version of the GitHub Action for enhanced security
      with:
        namespace: 'example' # Replace with your Endor Labs tenant namespace
        scan_dependencies: true
        scan_secrets: true
        pr: true
        enable_pr_comments: true # Required to automatically comment on PRs for new policy violations
        github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} # Required for PR comments on new policy violations

  scan-main:
    permissions:
      id-token: write
      repository-projects: read
      pull-requests: read
      contents: read
    name: endorctl-scan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout Repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v3
    - name: Setup Java
      uses: actions/setup-java@v3
      with:
        distribution: 'microsoft'
        java-version: '17'
    - name: Build Package
      run: mvn clean install
    - name: 'Endor Labs Scan Push to main'
      if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' }}
      uses: endorlabs/github-action@v1 # Replace v1 with the commit SHA of the latest version of the GitHub Action for enhanced security
      with:
        namespace: 'example' # Replace with your Endor Labs tenant namespace
        scan_dependencies: true
        scan_secrets: true
        pr: false
        scan_summary_output_type: 'table'
        sarif_file: 'findings.sarif'
    - name: Upload findings to github
      uses: github/codeql-action/upload-sarif@v3
      with:
        sarif_file: 'findings.sarif'

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Set up branch tracking in GitHub Actions

In Git, a detached HEAD state occurs when the repository checks out a specific commit instead of a branch reference. In this state, Git points the HEAD directly to a commit hash, without associating it with a named branch. As a result, actions performed, such as creating new commits or running automated scans, do not carry branch identity unless explicitly specified. Proper branch context enables Endor Labs to:
  • Associate scans with the correct branch
  • Identify scans on the monitored default branch
  • Track findings and display metrics accurately across branches
Without proper branch configuration, Endor Labs may create multiple branch entries for the same logical branch, leading to fragmented reporting and inaccurate metrics. Project with multiple branch entries GitHub Actions typically maintains proper branch context automatically. However, to ensure scans are properly tracked, when using the Endor Labs GitHub Action, set pr: false to create monitored versions that appear on dashboards. Use if: github.event_name == 'push' to trigger only on pushes to the default branch: 
- name: Endor Labs Scan Push to main
  if: github.event_name == 'push'
  uses: endorlabs/github-action@v1 # Replace v1 with the commit SHA of the latest version of the GitHub Action for enhanced security
  with:
    namespace: 'example'
    scan_dependencies: true
    pr: false

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Scan containers with OS reachability

You can use the Endor Labs GitHub Action to scan container images with OS reachability enabled. Container reachability identifies which packages inside a container image are actually used at runtime, helping you prioritize the most critical vulnerabilities for remediation. Set scan_container: true and os_reachability: true to enable container scanning with reachability analysis: 
    - name: Scan container with OS reachability
      uses: endorlabs/github-action@v1 # Replace v1 with the commit SHA of the latest version of the GitHub Action for enhanced security
      with:
        namespace: 'example'
        enable_github_action_token: 'true'
        scan_container: true
        scan_dependencies: false
        image: "nginx:latest"
        os_reachability: true
        pr: false
        project_name: 'my-project'

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Authenticate with Endor Labs

Endor Labs recommends using keyless authentication in CI environments. Keyless authentication is more secure and reduces the cost of secret rotation. To set up keyless authentication see Keyless Authentication. If you choose not to use keyless authentication, you can configure an API key and secret in GitHub for authentication as outlined in Managing API keys.

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Authentication Without Keyless Authentication for GitHub

If you are not using keyless authentication for GitHub Actions, you must not provide id-token: write permissions to your GitHub token unless specifically required by a step in this job. You must also set enable_github_action_token: false in your Endor Labs GitHub Action configuration. The following example configuration uses the Endor Labs API key for authentication: 
      - name: Scan with Endor Labs
        uses: endorlabs/github-action@v1 # Replace v1 with the commit SHA of the latest version of the GitHub Action for enhanced security
        with:
          namespace: 'example'
          api_key: ${{ secrets.ENDOR_API_CREDENTIALS_KEY }}
          api_secret: ${{ secrets.ENDOR_API_CREDENTIALS_SECRET }}
          enable_github_action_token: false
The following example configuration uses a GCP service account for keyless authentication to Endor Labs: 
      - name: Scan with Endor Labs
        uses: endorlabs/github-action@v1 # Replace v1 with the commit SHA of the latest version of the GitHub Action for enhanced security
        with:
          namespace: 'example'
          gcp_service_account: '<Insert_Your_Service_Account>@<Insert_Your_Project>.iam.gserviceaccount.com'
          enable_github_action_token: false

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Endor Labs GitHub Action Configuration Parameters

The following input configuration parameters are supported for the Endor Labs GitHub Action:

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Common parameters

Endor Labs GitHub Actions supports the following input global parameters:

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Scanning parameters

The following input parameters are also supported for the Endor Labs GitHub Action when used for scanning:
To enable AI SAST analysis, set the additional_args parameter to --ai-sast-analysis=agent-fallback.

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Environmental variables

You can use the following environmental variable for the Endor Labs GitHub Action:

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Artifact scanning parameters

Use the following parameters and the latest sign action to build artifact signing through Endor Labs GitHub Actions. The optional parameters are required only if enable_github_action_token in common parameters is false. If true (default value), GitHub automatically populates the optional and other parameters as token claims and sends them to Endor Labs.

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Artifact verifying parameters

Use the following verification parameters and the latest verify action to build artifact verification through Endor Labs GitHub Actions.