Integrating DAST with OWASP ZAP in Pipeline

When to Use

• When testing running web applications for vulnerabilities like XSS, SQLi, CSRF, and misconfigurations
• When SAST alone is insufficient and runtime behavior testing is required
• When compliance mandates dynamic security testing of web applications before production
• When testing APIs (REST/GraphQL) for authentication, authorization, and injection flaws
• When establishing continuous DAST scanning in staging environments before production deployment

Do not use for scanning source code (use SAST), for scanning dependencies (use SCA), or for infrastructure configuration scanning (use IaC scanning tools).

Prerequisites

• OWASP ZAP Docker image or installed locally (zaproxy/zap-stable or zaproxy/action-*)
• Running target application accessible from the CI/CD runner (staging URL or Docker service)
• ZAP scan rules configuration (optional, for tuning)
• OpenAPI/Swagger specification for API scanning (optional)

Workflow

Step 1: Configure ZAP Baseline Scan in GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/dast-scan.yml
name: DAST Security Scan

on:
  deployment_status:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      target_url:
        description: 'Target URL to scan'
        required: true

jobs:
  zap-baseline:
    name: ZAP Baseline Scan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      webapp:
        image: ${{ github.repository }}:${{ github.sha }}
        ports:
          - 8080:8080
        options: --health-cmd="curl -f http://localhost:8080/health" --health-interval=10s --health-timeout=5s --health-retries=5

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: ZAP Baseline Scan
        uses: zaproxy/action-baseline@v0.12.0
        with:
          target: 'http://webapp:8080'
          rules_file_name: '.zap/rules.tsv'
          cmd_options: '-a -j'
          allow_issue_writing: false

      - name: Upload ZAP Report
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: zap-baseline-report
          path: report_html.html

Step 2: Configure ZAP Full Scan for Comprehensive Testing

  zap-full-scan:
    name: ZAP Full Scan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: ZAP Full Scan
        uses: zaproxy/action-full-scan@v0.12.0
        with:
          target: ${{ github.event.inputs.target_url || 'https://staging.example.com' }}
          rules_file_name: '.zap/rules.tsv'
          cmd_options: '-a -j -T 60'

      - name: Upload Reports
        if: always()
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: zap-full-report
          path: |
            report_html.html
            report_json.json

Step 3: Configure API Scan with OpenAPI Specification

  zap-api-scan:
    name: ZAP API Scan
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: ZAP API Scan
        uses: zaproxy/action-api-scan@v0.12.0
        with:
          target: 'https://staging.example.com/api/openapi.json'
          format: openapi
          rules_file_name: '.zap/api-rules.tsv'
          cmd_options: '-a -j'

Step 4: Configure ZAP Scan Rules

# .zap/rules.tsv
# Rule ID	Action (IGNORE/WARN/FAIL)	Description
10003	IGNORE	# Vulnerable JS Library (handled by SCA)
10015	WARN	# Incomplete or No Cache-control Header
10021	FAIL	# X-Content-Type-Options Missing
10035	FAIL	# Strict-Transport-Security Missing
10038	FAIL	# Content Security Policy Missing
10098	IGNORE	# Cross-Domain Misconfiguration (CDN)
40012	FAIL	# Cross Site Scripting (Reflected)
40014	FAIL	# Cross Site Scripting (Persistent)
40018	FAIL	# SQL Injection
40019	FAIL	# SQL Injection (MySQL)
40032	FAIL	# .htaccess Information Leak
90033	FAIL	# Loosely Scoped Cookie

Step 5: Run ZAP with Docker Compose for Local Testing

# docker-compose.zap.yml
version: '3.8'
services:
  webapp:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "curl", "-f", "http://localhost:8080/health"]
      interval: 10s
      retries: 5

  zap:
    image: zaproxy/zap-stable:latest
    depends_on:
      webapp:
        condition: service_healthy
    command: >
      zap-baseline.py
        -t http://webapp:8080
        -r /zap/wrk/report.html
        -J /zap/wrk/report.json
        -c /zap/wrk/rules.tsv
        -I
    volumes:
      - ./zap-reports:/zap/wrk
      - ./.zap/rules.tsv:/zap/wrk/rules.tsv

Key Concepts

Term	Definition
DAST	Dynamic Application Security Testing — tests running applications by sending requests and analyzing responses
Baseline Scan	Quick passive scan that spiders the application without active attacks, suitable for CI/CD
Full Scan	Active scan including attack payloads for XSS, SQLi, and other injection vulnerabilities
API Scan	Targeted scan using OpenAPI/Swagger specs to test all documented API endpoints
Spider	ZAP's crawler that discovers application pages and endpoints by following links
Active Scan	Phase where ZAP sends attack payloads to discovered endpoints to find exploitable vulnerabilities
Passive Scan	Analysis of HTTP responses for security headers, cookies, and information disclosure without sending attacks
Scan Policy	Configuration defining which attack types to enable and their intensity levels

Tools & Systems

• OWASP ZAP: Open-source web application security scanner for DAST testing
• zaproxy/action-baseline: GitHub Action for ZAP passive baseline scanning
• zaproxy/action-full-scan: GitHub Action for ZAP active full scanning
• zaproxy/action-api-scan: GitHub Action for API-focused scanning with OpenAPI support
• Nuclei: Alternative vulnerability scanner with template-based detection for CI/CD integration

Common Scenarios

Scenario: Integrating DAST into a Staging Deployment Pipeline

Context: A team deploys to staging before production and needs automated DAST scanning between stages to catch runtime vulnerabilities.

Approach:

1. Add a DAST job in the pipeline that triggers after successful staging deployment
2. Run ZAP baseline scan first for quick passive feedback (2-5 minutes)
3. Follow with a targeted API scan using the application's OpenAPI specification
4. Configure rules.tsv to FAIL on critical findings (XSS, SQLi) and WARN on headers/cookies
5. Upload ZAP reports as pipeline artifacts for review
6. Block production deployment if any FAIL-level findings are detected
7. Schedule weekly full scans against staging for deeper coverage

Pitfalls: ZAP full scans can take 30+ minutes and may overwhelm staging servers with attack traffic. Use baseline scans in CI and full scans on schedule. Running DAST against production without coordination can trigger WAF blocks and incident alerts.

Output Format

ZAP DAST Scan Report
======================
Target: https://staging.example.com
Scan Type: Baseline + API
Date: 2026-02-23
Duration: 4m 32s

FINDINGS:
  FAIL: 3
  WARN: 7
  INFO: 12
  PASS: 45

FAILING ALERTS:
  [HIGH] 40012 - Cross Site Scripting (Reflected)
    URL: https://staging.example.com/search?q=<script>
    Method: GET
    Evidence: <script>alert(1)</script>

  [MEDIUM] 10021 - X-Content-Type-Options Missing
    URL: https://staging.example.com/api/v1/*
    Evidence: Response header missing

  [MEDIUM] 10035 - Strict-Transport-Security Missing
    URL: https://staging.example.com/
    Evidence: HSTS header not present

QUALITY GATE: FAILED (1 HIGH, 2 MEDIUM findings)