Configure a GitHub Actions Pipeline

EdgeBit gives developers context about new and modified software dependencies when submitted a pull request or pushing a new commit before it merges into main.

This context is useful for:

• vulnerabilities: understand vulnerabilities present in the selected version(s)
• recommendations: see a recommended version with fixed vulnerabilities, if available
• standardization: gain context about versions of the same dependnecy that other teams may be using at your organization – think of this as a gentle nudge to standarize via social proof

This document will walk through setting up a GitHub action (open source code) although the workflow is generally the same for all build tools and CI/CD pipelines.

The action uses the Syft open source project to generate the software bill of materials (SBOM).

Setting up GitHub Integration

The GitHub integration consists of two parts:

1. Installing the EdgeBit GitHub App
2. Adding steps to the repositories’ workflow to generate the SBOM and upload it to EdgeBit

Installing the GitHub App

An admin should do the following:

1. On the left navigation panel in the EdgeBit Console, click on “Integrations”.
2. Click “New Integration” to start the GitHub app installation process.
3. Grant EdgeBit access to all repos in an organization or a subset.
4. Choose which project(s) the GitHub integration should be used with.

Setting Up the Action

First, in the EdgeBit Console, generate a new Access Token for this repository to use. You can find this in the left hand navigation under “Access Tokens”.

Save it in GitHub under the repository GitHub Action secrets named EDGEBIT_TOKEN.

Modify the Workflows

$ mkdir -p .github/edgebit
$ curl -sL https://edgebit.io/docs/0.x/assets/container-syft.yaml > .github/edgebit/container-syft.yaml

name: Build

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'main'
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, reopened, synchronize]

env:
  CONTAINER_IMAGE: registry.example.com/foo:latest

jobs:
  build-container:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Build and push
        id: build
        uses: docker/build-push-action@v4
        with:
          # Ensure load or push is set to true
          load: true
          tags: ${{ env.CONTAINER_IMAGE }}

      #
      # Add these steps following the build
      # Assumes that the build step id is "build"
      #
      - name: Download Syft
        id: syft
        uses: anchore/sbom-action/download-syft@v0.14.3

      - name: Generate SBOM from source code
        run: "${{ steps.syft.outputs.cmd }} --config .github/edgebit/container-syft.yaml --file /tmp/sbom.syft.json ${{ steps.build.outputs.digest }}"

      - name: Upload SBOM to EdgeBit
        uses: edgebitio/edgebit-build@v1
        with:
          edgebit-url: https://foo.edgebit.io
          token: ${{ secrets.EDGEBIT_TOKEN }}
          image-id: ${{ steps.build.outputs.imageid }}
          image-tag: ${{ env.CONTAINER_IMAGE }}
          tags: ${{ github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && 'latest' || '' }}
          component: foo
          repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          sbom-file: /tmp/sbom.syft.json

$ mkdir -p .github/edgebit
$ curl https://edgebit.io/docs/0.x/assets/source-syft.yaml > .github/edgebit/source-syft.yaml

name: EdgeBit

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - 'main'
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, reopened, synchronize]

jobs:
  upload-sbom:

    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    # to prevent duplication on a push & PR event:
    if: (github.event_name == 'push' && github.event.before != '0000000000000000000000000000000000000000') || github.event_name == 'pull_request'

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Download Syft
        id: syft
        uses: anchore/sbom-action/download-syft@v0.14.3

      - name: Generate SBOM from source code
        run: "${{ steps.syft.outputs.cmd }} --config .github/edgebit/source-syft.yaml --file /tmp/sbom.syft.json ."

      - name: Upload SBOM to EdgeBit
        uses: edgebitio/edgebit-build@v1
        with:
          edgebit-url: https://foo.edgebit.io
          token: ${{ secrets.EDGEBIT_TOKEN }}
          tags: ${{ github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && 'latest' || '' }}
          component: foo
          repo-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          sbom-file: /tmp/sbom.syft.json

This workflow can run independently of any other GitHub actions you may use. It does the following:

1. Generates a software bill of materials (SBOM) by scanning the built container or from the current directory, detecting most common programming languages, by using the Syft open source project
2. Uses your EdgeBit Access Token to upload the SBOM to EdgeBit and ties it to the specific commit and container image metadata (if using).

Set Action Inputs

Fill in the required inputs at the bottom of the file.

The other options have default values, but may be modified if needed:

Test the EdgeBit Bot

Create a new branch and commit the changes to the Actions Workflow files from the step above. Open a Pull Request to see the bot in action:

1. Comments on the PR if new dependency changes are detected, highlighting:
   • New vulnerabilities and supply chain risks introduced by the changes
   • Confirming addition, modification or removal of dependency changes without issues
2. Link to more detail within EdgeBit about the current state of all known vulnerabilities

If a PR makes dependency changes and new issues are found, EdgeBit will comment with more information:

View your Build Artifacts in the EdgeBit Console

Your EdgeBit Console contains reports about each SBOM uploaded and the current state of all vulnerabilities in your software Components.

Next: Install Machine Agent