VulnerableCode

VulnerableCode is a free and open database of open source software package vulnerabilities because open source software vulnerabilities data and tools should be free and open source themselves:

we are trying to change this and evolve the status quo in a few other areas!

• Vulnerability databases have been traditionally proprietary even though they are mostly about free and open source software.
• Vulnerability databases also often contain a lot of lesser value data which means a lot of false positive signals that require extensive expert reviews.
• Vulnerability databases are also mostly about vulnerabilities first and software package second, making it difficult to find if and when a vulnerability applies to a piece of code. VulnerableCode focus is on software package first where a Package URL is a key and natural identifier for packages; this is making it easier to find a package and whether it is vulnerable.

Package URL themselves were designed first in ScanCode and VulnerableCode and are now a de-facto standard for vulnerability management and package references. See

The VulnerableCode project is a FOSS community resource to help improve the security of the open source software ecosystem and its users at large.

VulnerableCode consists of a database and the tools to collect, refine and keep the database current.

> VulnerableCode is under active development and is not yet fully > usable.

Read more about VulnerableCode

VulnerableCode tech stack is Python, Django, PostgreSQL, nginx and Docker and several libraries.

Getting started

Run with Docker

First install docker, then run

git clone https://github.com/nexB/vulnerablecode.git && cd vulnerablecode
make envfile
docker compose build
docker compose up -d
docker compose run vulnerablecode ./manage.py import --list

Then run an importer for nginx advisories (which is small)

docker compose exec vulnerablecode ./manage.py import nginx_importer
docker compose exec vulnerablecode ./manage.py improve --all

At this point, the VulnerableCode app and API should be up and running with some data at

Populate VulnerableCode database

VulnerableCode data collection works in two steps: importing data from multiple sources and then refining and improving how package and software vulnerabilities are related.

To run all importers and improvers use this

./manage.py import --all

./manage.py improve --all

Local development installation

On a Debian system, use this

sudo apt-get install  python3-venv python3-dev postgresql libpq-dev build-essential
git clone https://github.com/nexB/vulnerablecode.git && cd vulnerablecode
make dev envfile postgres
make test
source venv/bin/activate
./manage.py import nginx_importer
./manage.py improve --all
make run

At this point, the VulnerableCode app and API is up at

License

Copyright (c) nexB Inc. and others. All rights reserved.

VulnerableCode is a trademark of nexB Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 AND CC-BY-SA-4.0

VulnerableCode software is licensed under the Apache License version 2.0.

VulnerableCode data is licensed collectively under CC-BY-SA-4.0.

See for the license text.

See for the license text.

See for support or download.

See for more information about nexB OSS projects.

Acknowledgements, Funding, Support and Sponsoring

This project is funded, supported and sponsored by:

• Generous support and contributions from users like you!
• the European Commission NGI programme
• the NLnet Foundation
• the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)
• Google, including the Google Summer of Code and the Google Seasons of Doc programmes
• Mercedes-Benz Group
• Microsoft and Microsoft Azure
• AboutCode ASBL
• nexB Inc.

This project was funded through the NGI0 PET Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 825310.

This project was funded through the NGI0 Discovery Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 825322.

This project was funded through the NGI0 Core Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101092990.

This project is funded through the NGI0 Entrust Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101069594.

This project was funded through the NGI0 Commons Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101135429. Additional funding is made available by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).

This project was funded through the NGI0 Entrust Fund, a fund established by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 101069594.