Fix Vulnerabilities

Fix Dependabot security vulnerabilities in Java/Gradle projects with proper verification.

When to use this skill

• Resolving Dependabot security alerts
• Fixing CVE vulnerabilities in dependencies
• Verifying dependency graph for CI compliance
• Choosing the right fix strategy for transitive dependencies
• Understanding why dependency-review CI check fails
• When asked to "fix dependabot vulnerabilities" or "fix security alerts"

Skill Contents

Sections

• When to use this skill
• Quick Start
• Key Concepts
• References
• Related Rules
• Related Skills

Available Resources

📚 references/ - Detailed documentation

• dependency graph
• fix strategies
• severity processing
• troubleshooting

---

Quick Start

1. Create Jira ticket first

See global/rules/jira-ticket-workflow.md for ticket creation.

2. Get alerts by severity

REPO=$(gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q '.nameWithOwner')
gh api --paginate repos/$REPO/dependabot/alerts --jq '.[] | select(.state == "open") | {
  number, severity: .security_advisory.severity, package: .dependency.package.name,
  patched_version: .security_vulnerability.first_patched_version.identifier,
  cve: .security_advisory.cve_id
}'

3. Fix by severity (CRITICAL first, then HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)

See references/fix-strategies.md for strategy hierarchy.

4. Verify with dependency graph

./gradlew -I gradle/dependency-graph-init.gradle \
    --dependency-verification=off \
    :ForceDependencyResolutionPlugin_resolveAllDependencies

# Check ONLY patched versions appear
grep -i "package-name" build/reports/dependency-graph-snapshots/dependency-list.txt

5. Commit and create PR

Use Conventional Commits format:

git commit -m "fix(security): [JIRA-KEY] resolve CRITICAL vulnerabilities

Generated with the Quality Agent by the /fix-vulnerabilities command."

Key Concepts

Severity-Based Processing

Process ONE severity level at a time, creating separate PRs for each:

Priority	Severity	When to Process
1	CRITICAL	Always first
2	HIGH	After no CRITICAL
3	MEDIUM	After no HIGH
4	LOW	After no MEDIUM

Dependency Graph vs Runtime Resolution

The dependency graph plugin reports ALL versions to GitHub, not just the resolved version. Force rules alone won't fix dependency-review failures - use substitution to remove old versions.

Fix Strategy Hierarchy

1. BOM Update - Update Spring Boot, gRPC, Protobuf BOM versions 1b. BOM Property Override - Override a BOM-managed version property (e.g., ext['jackson-bom.version']) when upgrading the entire BOM isn't feasible (requires io.spring.dependency-management plugin)
2. Version Catalog - Update direct dependencies in libs.versions.toml
3. Dependency Substitution - Replace transitive dependencies
4. Constraints - Set minimum version floors
5. Force Rules - Quick fix (combine with substitution)
6. Exclude + Add - Last resort

References

Reference	Description
references/fix-strategies.md	Detailed fix strategies with examples
references/severity-processing.md	Severity-based workflow
references/dependency-graph.md	Dependency graph plugin setup and verification
references/troubleshooting.md	Common issues and solutions

Related Rules

• java-vulnerability-golden-paths - Proven fix patterns for common CVEs
• java-versions-and-dependencies - Version management policies

Related Skills

Skill	Purpose
greenflag-dependabot	Routine updates during Greenflag KTLO
gradle-standards	Gradle configuration
fix-sonarqube	Code quality checks

Note: For routine (non-security) Dependabot updates during Greenflag duty, use the greenflag-dependabot skill instead.