osv-scanner

When to use

• Team prefers OSS tooling over commercial Snyk.
• Layered SCA strategy - pair with snyk-test for cross-DB consensus signal.
• Custom package manager produces SBOMs not natively supported; feed SBOM directly to OSV-Scanner.
• Lightweight CI gate without commercial-license setup.

Step 1 - Install

Per osv-usage:

docker pull ghcr.io/google/osv-scanner:latest

Other install paths (consult google.github.io/osv-scanner for current options per platform):

# Go install
go install github.com/google/osv-scanner/cmd/osv-scanner@v1

# Homebrew
brew install osv-scanner

# Direct binary download from github.com/google/osv-scanner/releases

Step 2 - Basic recursive scan

Per osv-usage:

osv-scanner scan -r ./my-project-dir/

Auto-detects manifest files (package-lock.json, Pipfile.lock, go.mod, Cargo.lock, etc.) and queries OSV.dev for each.

Per-lockfile scan (-L targets one lockfile without recursing, useful in monorepos):

osv-scanner scan -L package-lock.json --output-file scan-results.txt

Step 3 - Output formats

Per osv-usage: --format json and --format=vertical and --format=html are referenced. Full format list per the osv-scanner documentation:

Format	Use
--format json	For downstream aggregation
--format sarif	GitHub Code Scanning upload
--format markdown	PR comments
--format vertical	Default human-readable
--format html	Standalone report

Step 4 - SBOM-driven scanning

For projects with custom build systems that emit SBOMs but lack natively-parsed lockfiles:

osv-scanner scan --sbom my-app.cyclonedx.json
osv-scanner scan --sbom my-app.spdx.json

This composes with syft-generation - Syft generates the SBOM, OSV-Scanner queries OSV.dev against it.

Step 5 - osv-scanner.toml config

Suppress a vuln with an expiring, reasoned entry (auditable in git):

# osv-scanner.toml
[[IgnoredVulns]]
id = "CVE-2024-1234"
ignoreUntil = 2026-12-15T00:00:00Z
reason = "Reachability confirms unreachable; tracked in JIRA-1234"

The full schema ([[PackageOverrides]], multi-entry config, --config flag, the mandatory justification template) is in references/osv-scanner-config-and-ci.md.

Step 6 - False-positive triage (MANDATORY)

Suppress via [[IgnoredVulns]] (per-CVE, with ignoreUntil) or [[PackageOverrides]] (per pinned package + ecosystem) in osv-scanner.toml; --severity-threshold is a scan-time filter, not a suppression. Every entry carries a mandatory reason + approver + re-review date. ignoreUntil is enforced - past-due ignores re-surface in the scan results. The suppression-layer table and justification template are in references/osv-scanner-config-and-ci.md.

Step 7 - Exit codes + CI gating

OSV-Scanner exit codes (verify against current docs):

• 0 - no vulnerabilities found
• 1 - vulnerabilities found
• 127 - config error

The google/osv-scanner-action GHA (Docker invocation + SARIF upload) is in references/osv-scanner-config-and-ci.md.

Step 8 - License-checking (adjacent feature)

OSV-Scanner has experimental license-summary support:

osv-scanner --experimental-licenses-summary scan -r .

For full license-compliance + scanning, pair with sbom-formats or use a dedicated tool like ScanCode / FOSSology.

Anti-patterns

• [[IgnoredVulns]] without ignoreUntil -> debt persists; always set ignoreUntil (Step 5).
• Skipping --format=sarif upload -> findings invisible in the GitHub Security tab; always emit SARIF (Step 7).
• Running only OSV-Scanner -> OSV.dev has its own coverage profile; layer with snyk-test.
• Scanning without a committed lockfile -> manifest fallback resolves versions less accurately; commit the lockfile and scan via -L.
• --config pointing outside the repo -> suppressions not auditable; commit osv-scanner.toml at the repo root.

Limitations

• OSV.dev coverage varies by ecosystem (Python / npm / Go strong; less common ones thinner).
• No reachability analysis: every CVE on a declared dep counts even if the vulnerable function isn't called.
• Container image scanning is limited; prefer trivy-image or the Grype workflow in syft-generation.
• Some CLI surface evolves; verify against current osv-scanner help output.

References

• osv-usage - usage page (lockfile, SBOM, config)
• Full osv-scanner.toml schema, triage template, and CI workflow: references/osv-scanner-config-and-ci.md
• google.github.io/osv-scanner - full docs
• github.com/google/osv-scanner - repository
• osv.dev - OSV vulnerability database
• ossf.github.io/osv-schema/ - OSV schema
• snyk-test, dependabot-config, renovate-config, npm-pip-maven-audit - sister tools
• syft-generation - cross-plugin SBOM source