Integrate PMD with Vulnetix. Analyze Java and other language source code for potential bugs and security issues with SARIF output.
Install & scan
$ # Download from GitHub releases curl -L https://github.com/pmd/pmd/releases/latest/download/pmd-dist-7-latest-bin.zip -o pmd.zip unzip pmd.zip $ pmd check -d src -R rulesets/java/quickstart.xml -f sarif > pmd.sarif
Run PMD in CI
Scan on every push and upload the report as a workflow artifact:
- name: Setup PMD
uses: pmd/pmd-github-action@v2
with:
version: 'latest'
rulesets: 'rulesets/java/quickstart.xml'
analyzeModifiedFilesOnly: false
- name: Upload report
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
with:
name: pmd
path: pmd-report.sarif
if-no-files-found: warnThen one publish job hands every artifact in the run to Vulnetix, recorded under PMD's own name and version. Written once per workflow, however many scanners you run:
publish:
name: Publish to Vulnetix
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
needs: [scan] # every scanner job, or its report is never published
if: always() # or one failing scanner suppresses all the others
permissions:
contents: read
actions: read # required to list the run's artifacts
env:
VULNETIX_ORG_ID: ${{ secrets.VULNETIX_ORG_ID }}
VULNETIX_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.VULNETIX_API_KEY }}
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v5
- name: Install Vulnetix CLI
run: |
curl -fsSL https://cli.vulnetix.com/install.sh | sh -s -- --install-dir "$HOME/.local/bin"
echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
- name: Publish scanner reports
env:
GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
run: vulnetix gha upload --org-id "$VULNETIX_ORG_ID" --jsonAfter the run, vulnetix gha status reports what was actually recorded.
How Vulnetix compares: better together
Vulnetix does not replace PMD. Keep running it. Vulnetix sits on top of PMD (and every other scanner you already own) turning disconnected tool outputs into one prioritised, fixable queue.
PMD is strongest at its core category and also carries features in Secret Scanning, just as Vulnetix spans categories.
| Capability | Vulnetix | PMD |
|---|---|---|
| Security coverage | ||
| SAST (static code analysis) | ✓ Built-in rules + Semgrep augmentation | ✓ Cross-language static analyzer; security ruleset (category/java/security.xml) detects hardcoded crypto keys, insecure randomness and other CWE-classified issues |
| SCA / dependencies | ✓ 40+ ecosystems, transitive graph | ✗ |
| DAST (dynamic testing) | ~ Ingests DAST results; no native dynamic engine | ✗ |
| Container & image | ✓ Image CVEs, base image, Dockerfile | ✗ |
| IaC / misconfiguration | ✓ Terraform, k8s, CloudFormation | ✗ |
| Secret scanning | ✓ 1,000+ rules, source + binary + git history | ~ Security ruleset includes HardCodedCryptoKey / hardcoded-credential rules, but PMD is primarily a code-quality analyzer, not a dedicated secrets scanner |
| Cloud / CSPM | ✓ Cloud-posture findings, compliance tab | ✗ |
| Mobile (MAST) | ~ Ingests mobile scanner output; no native mobile engine | ✗ |
| License compliance | ✓ SPDX, copyleft/AGPL/SSPL policy | ✗ |
| SBOM generation | ✓ CycloneDX 1.7 + SPDX 2.3, cosign-signable | ✗ |
| Malware / supply-chain | ✓ De-duplicated corpus + install-time firewall (25+ registries) | ✗ |
| Network / infra vuln | ~ Ingests network scanner output; no native network scanner | ✗ |
| Fuzzing | ✗ Ingests fuzzing crashes; no native fuzzer | ✗ |
| Pentest / bug bounty | ✗ Ingests pentest/bug-bounty findings; not a testing service | ✗ |
| The Vulnetix orchestration layer | ||
| Cross-scanner dedup & one queue (ASPM) | ✓ Correlates every scanner into one prioritised queue with ownership routing | ✗ |
| Exploit-intel prioritisation | ✓ EPSS, CISA KEV, Coalition ESS, CWSS, Vulnetix LEV | ✗ |
| Reachability analysis | ✓ Tree-sitter + CVEAffected; direct/transitive/semantic | ✗ |
| Versioned VEX + audit trail | ✓ Immutable OpenVEX/CycloneDX, cosign-signable | ✗ |
| Safe Harbour autofix | ✓ Resolves + applies the nearest safe version | ✗ |
| End-of-life policy | ✓ Flags/blocks past-EOL runtimes & packages | ✗ |
| SSVC / risk-based policy | ✓ SSVC v2 + CISA/FedRAMP/Essential-8 presets | ✗ |
✓ full · ~ partial · ✗ not covered
What PMD does well
- Multi-language source analyzer (Java, Apex, JavaScript, Kotlin, Swift, PL/SQL, Scala and more) with 400+ built-in rules
- Extensible rule engine: write custom rules in Java or XPath against the AST for project-specific patterns
- Bundled Copy-Paste Detector (CPD) finds duplicated code across 34+ languages
- Deep IDE and build-tool integration (Eclipse, IntelliJ, VS Code, Maven, Gradle) plus SARIF renderer for CI
Where Vulnetix adds to it: PMD is a strong multi-language quality-and-security linter; Vulnetix consumes its SARIF and merges PMD findings with all other scanners into one deduplicated, prioritised queue, adding EPSS/KEV/LEV exploit-intel, reachability, VEX and autofix that PMD does not offer. Better together: Vulnetix layers orchestration on top of PMD, it does not perform PMD's per-language static analysis itself.
No migration, no rip-and-replace. PMD keeps doing what it does best; Vulnetix adds the orchestration, exploit-intelligence prioritisation and remediation layer built for the way AppSec works today.
Centralise PMD results in Vulnetix
Upload PMD SARIF output to the Vulnetix platform to deduplicate findings, prioritise them with EPSS, CISA KEV and Coalition ESS exploit intelligence, and track remediation across every scanner in a single queue.