Integrate SpotBugs with Vulnetix. Find bugs in compiled JVM bytecode with SARIF output.
Install & scan
$ # Download from GitHub releases or use Gradle/Maven plugin
# Gradle: plugins { id 'com.github.spotbugs' version '6.0.0' }
$ spotbugs -sarif=spotbugs.sarif target/classes
Run SpotBugs in CI
Scan on every push and upload the report as a workflow artifact:
- name: Build project
run: mvn compile
- name: Run SpotBugs
run: spotbugs -sarif=spotbugs.sarif target/classes
- name: Upload report
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
with:
name: spotbugs
path: spotbugs.sarif
if-no-files-found: warnThen one publish job hands every artifact in the run to Vulnetix, recorded under SpotBugs'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 SpotBugs. Keep running it. Vulnetix sits on top of SpotBugs (and every other scanner you already own) turning disconnected tool outputs into one prioritised, fixable queue.
SpotBugs is strongest at its core category and also carries features in Secret Scanning, just as Vulnetix spans categories.
| Capability | Vulnetix | SpotBugs |
|---|---|---|
| Security coverage | ||
| SAST (static code analysis) | ✓ Built-in rules + Semgrep augmentation | ✓ Bytecode static analysis for JVM languages; FindSecBugs plugin adds 140+ OWASP-aligned security detectors (144 types / 826 API signatures as of v1.14) |
| 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 | ~ FindSecBugs includes hardcoded-password/hardcoded-key detectors (HARD_CODE_PASSWORD, HARD_CODE_KEY), but it is not a full-repo/history 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 SpotBugs does well
- Analyzes compiled JVM bytecode (Java, plus Kotlin/Groovy/Scala) so it catches issues source-level tools miss, across 400+ bug patterns
- With the FindSecBugs plugin it becomes a real SAST engine: 140+ security vulnerability types and 800+ API signatures covering the OWASP Top 10 (SQLi, XSS, XXE, command/XPath injection, crypto weaknesses)
- Mature, community-maintained successor to FindBugs with detailed documentation for every bug pattern
- Broad tooling integration (Maven, Gradle, Ant, Eclipse, IntelliJ) and SARIF output for GitHub Code Scanning
Where Vulnetix adds to it: SpotBugs + FindSecBugs is the better engine for deep JVM-bytecode security analysis; Vulnetix ingests its SARIF and unifies those findings with the rest of the toolchain in one prioritised queue, then adds exploit-intel scoring, reachability, immutable versioned VEX and Safe Harbour autofix. Better together: Vulnetix orchestrates and prioritises SpotBugs output, it does not replace its bytecode analysis.
No migration, no rip-and-replace. SpotBugs keeps doing what it does best; Vulnetix adds the orchestration, exploit-intelligence prioritisation and remediation layer built for the way AppSec works today.
Centralise SpotBugs results in Vulnetix
Upload SpotBugs 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.