Insider CLI
A static application security testing (SAST) CLI tool that scans source code for OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities across multiple programming languages.
What is Insider CLI?
Insider is an open-source Static Application Security Testing (SAST) CLI tool that scans source code to identify security vulnerabilities, specifically targeting the OWASP Top 10 risks. It helps development teams integrate security testing directly into their DevOps pipelines, enabling early detection of issues in languages like Java, .NET, JavaScript, Swift, and Kotlin. The tool is designed to be agile, easy to implement, and supports multiple output formats for reporting.
Development and DevOps teams working with Java, .NET, JavaScript, Swift, or Kotlin who need to integrate security scanning into their CI/CD pipelines. It's particularly useful for organizations prioritizing OWASP compliance and seeking a lightweight, open-source SAST solution.
Insider offers a free, open-source alternative to commercial SAST tools with a strong focus on the OWASP Top 10 and seamless DevOps integration. Its CLI-based design, support for multiple languages, and availability as a GitHub Action make it exceptionally easy to adopt and automate within existing development workflows.
Overview
Static Application Security Testing (SAST) engine focused on covering the OWASP Top 10, to make source code analysis to find vulnerabilities right in the source code, focused on a agile and easy to implement software inside your DevOps pipeline. Support the following technologies: Java (Maven and Android), Kotlin (Android), Swift (iOS), .NET Full Framework, C#, and Javascript (Node.js).
Use Cases
Best For
- Integrating SAST into CI/CD pipelines for early vulnerability detection
- Scanning multi-language codebases for OWASP Top 10 compliance
- Adding security checks to Android and iOS mobile applications
- Automating security testing in GitHub repositories via Actions
- Performing static analysis on Java, .NET, or JavaScript projects
- Self-hosting a lightweight SAST solution without commercial licensing
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring SAST for languages like Python, Ruby, Go, or PHP, as Insider only supports Java, .NET, JavaScript, Swift, and Kotlin
- Enterprise teams needing advanced features such as GUI dashboards, audit trails, or integrations with SIEM systems for centralized security management
- Organizations with compliance requirements beyond OWASP Top 10, such as PCI-DSS or HIPAA-specific security rules
Pros & Cons
Pros
Offers a dedicated GitHub Action and CLI design, making it frictionless to embed security scans into CI/CD workflows, as highlighted in the README for agile implementation.
Targets the OWASP Top 10 security risks, ensuring scans are aligned with the most critical web application vulnerabilities, which is a core philosophy stated in the project description.
Analyzes key languages including Java, .NET, JavaScript, and mobile platforms like Android and iOS, providing broad coverage for diverse development stacks as listed in the features.
Supports parallel analysis with configurable jobs via the '-jobs' flag, improving scan speed for larger codebases, which is a documented feature for efficiency.
Cons
Only covers a handful of languages, missing popular ones like Python or Go, which restricts its use for modern polyglot projects and forces teams to rely on additional tools.
Outputs are confined to HTML and JSON formats without advanced visualization, trend analysis, or integration with other security platforms, limiting insights for complex audits.
Beyond file exclusions, there's no mention of tuning security rules or managing false positives, which can lead to noisy scans and require manual intervention.
Frequently Asked Questions
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