Top SAST and DAST Tools for DevSecOps: Boost Your Software Security

From a strategic perspective, security testing tools can be embedded into the DevOps workflow, forming a DevSecOps model that improves productivity while minimizing software development costs. These tools enable testing and remediation of vulnerabilities throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and post‑deployment maintenance, ensuring developers work within a secure development and delivery cycle without sacrificing efficiency.

In a previous article the author discussed CI/CD practices under the DevOps model; readers unfamiliar with DevOps may refer to that guide for background.

The DevSecOps paradigm continuously evolves, and with specialized security tools organizations can now test and protect each stage of software development and delivery. DevSecOps security tools are generally categorized into Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST). This article focuses on the most commonly used tools and methods.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

SAST provides various forms of source‑code analysis, binary analysis, and white‑box testing. It primarily checks source code for vulnerabilities before code is pushed to production, looking for issues such as race conditions, input validation flaws, and numeric errors. Binary analysis examines compiled code for defects. Using multiple SAST tools—some targeting source code, others binary code, and some both—is recommended.

LGTM.com : An open‑source code platform that uses CodeQL to detect common vulnerabilities and CVEs across many languages (C/C++, Go, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#, Python). It automates code review by identifying patterns and leveraging community‑driven repositories.

SonarQube : A widely used static analysis tool that supports 27 languages, integrates with GitHub, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, and provides real‑time feedback during code review. The community edition is free and suitable for entry‑level CI/CD security, while enterprise editions add advanced features.

Reshift : Focuses on discovering security issues without slowing development speed. Integrated with IDEs, it protects applications during code review, compilation, and continuous integration, making it a lightweight DevSecOps option for small‑to‑medium enterprises.

Insider CLI : An open‑source SAST tool designed around the OWASP Top 10, supporting .NET, Node.js, Java (Android & Maven), Swift, and C#. It scans source code for vulnerabilities, enabling agile and efficient development.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

DAST tools, also known as black‑box testing or vulnerability scanners, evaluate applications from an external perspective without access to source code. They simulate attack vectors at runtime to uncover issues such as memory corruption, CSRF, remote file inclusion, buffer overflows, and denial‑of‑service. These tools can be fully automated to create an end‑to‑end testing pipeline.

Crashtest Security : A vulnerability assessment tool with advanced crawling capabilities, integrating seamlessly into development pipelines to detect flaws, including single‑page JavaScript applications, via API scanning.

OWASP ZAP : A free, open‑source penetration testing tool that acts as a “man‑in‑the‑middle” proxy to intercept and analyze web traffic. It runs on all major operating systems and Docker, with extensible add‑ons from the ZAP marketplace.

NPM Audit : Provides a large registry of JavaScript packages and automatically identifies and manages dependency conflicts and security vulnerabilities, supporting continuous protection of DevOps pipelines.

Arachni : A high‑performance, Ruby‑based testing tool offering multiple deployment options (library, CLI scanner, Web UI, distributed system). Through its REST API it integrates with modern platforms, detecting NoSQL injection, code injection, XSS, file inclusion, and more, making it a versatile automated penetration testing platform.

Conclusion

Arachni is a free, high‑performance Ruby‑based testing tool whose portable packages allow immediate deployment for security assessment. It can be used as a Ruby library, CLI scanner, Web UI, or distributed system, and its REST API enables seamless integration with most modern platforms, providing comprehensive vulnerability analysis with high reliability and scalability.