What This Stack Does
Building a robust security posture does not require expensive commercial tools. This stack assembles the best open-source security scanners that together cover the major attack surfaces in modern software delivery: secrets in code, vulnerabilities in containers and dependencies, insecure code patterns, and centralized vulnerability lifecycle management.
Secret Detection in Code and History
Gitleaks and TruffleHog form the secret detection layer, each with over 15,000 GitHub stars and active communities. Gitleaks scans git repositories for hardcoded secrets like API keys, passwords, and tokens using regex patterns and entropy detection. TruffleHog takes a complementary approach with deeper analysis capabilities including scanning across multiple platforms beyond just git repositories. Running both tools provides defense in depth since each catches secrets the other might miss.
Vulnerability Scanning and Static Analysis
Trivy serves as the container and dependency vulnerability scanner with broad coverage across container images, file systems, git repositories, and Kubernetes clusters. Maintained by Aqua Security, it detects vulnerabilities in OS packages, language-specific dependencies, and IaC misconfigurations. Its speed and breadth of coverage make it the go-to open-source scanner for CI/CD pipeline integration.
Semgrep provides static application security testing with a pattern-based approach that developers actually enjoy using. Its rules are written in a syntax that resembles the code being analyzed, making custom rule creation intuitive. The open-source rule registry covers OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, language-specific anti-patterns, and framework-specific security issues across dozens of programming languages.
The Bottom Line
DefectDojo ties the stack together as the vulnerability management and correlation platform. This OWASP project aggregates findings from all other scanners into a unified dashboard, deduplicates issues, tracks remediation progress, and provides the reporting layer needed for compliance and audit requirements. It transforms raw scanner output into an actionable security operations workflow.