Reference

cpan-audit(1p)

Audit CPAN modules

NAME

cpan-audit - Audit CPAN modules

SYNOPSIS

cpan-audit [command] [options]

Commands:

    module         [version range]    audit module with optional version range (all by default)
    modules        [version range]    audit module list with optional version range (all by default)
    dist|release   [version range]    audit distribution with optional version range (all by default)
    deps           [directory]        audit dependencies from the directory (. by default)
    installed                         audit all installed modules
    show           [advisory id]      show information about specific advisory

Options:

    --ascii               use ascii output
    --fresh|f             check the database for freshness (CPAN::Audit::FreshnessCheck)
    --help|h              show the help message and exit
    --no-color            switch off colors
    --no-corelist         ignore modules bundled with perl version
    --perl                include perl advisories
    --quiet               be quiet (overrules --verbose)
    --verbose             be verbose (off if --quiet in effect)
    --version             show the version and exit
    --exit-zero           always exit with 0 even if advisories are reported
    --exclude <str>       exclude/ignore the specified advisory/cve (multiple)
    --exclude-file <file> read exclude/ignore patterns from file
    --json                output JSON

Examples:

    cpan-audit dist Catalyst-Runtime
    cpan-audit dist Catalyst-Runtime 7.0
    cpan-audit dist Catalyst-Runtime '>5.48'
    cpan-audit module Catalyst 7.0
    cpan-audit modules "Catalyst;7.0" "Mojolicious;>8.40,<9.20"
    cpan-audit deps .
    cpan-audit deps /path/to/distribution
    cpan-audit installed
    cpan-audit installed local/
    cpan-audit installed local/ --exclude CVE-2011-4116
    cpan-audit installed local/ --exclude CVE-2011-4116 --exclude CVE-2011-123
    cpan-audit installed local/ --exclude-file ignored-cves.txt
    cpan-audit installed --json
    cpan-audit installed --json --exit-zero
    cpan-audit show CPANSA-Mojolicious-2018-03

DESCRIPTION

"cpan-audit" is a command line application that checks the modules or distributions for known vulnerabilities. It is using its internal database that is automatically generated from a hand-picked database <https://github.com/briandfoy/cpan-security-advisory>.

"cpan-audit" does not connect to anything, that is why it is important to keep it up to date. Every update of the internal database is released as a new version. Ensure that you have the latest database by updating CPAN::Audit frequently; the database can change daily. You can use enable a warning for a possibly out-of-date database by adding "--fresh", which warns if the database version is older than a month:

        % cpan-audit --fresh ...
        % cpan-audit -f ...
        % env CPAN_AUDIT_FRESH_DAYS=7 cpan-audit -f ...

Finding dependencies

"cpan-audit" can automatically detect dependencies from the following sources:

"Carton"

Parses cpanfile.snapshot file and checks the distribution versions.

cpanfile

Parses cpanfile taking into account the required versions.

It is assumed that if the required version of the module is less than a version of a release with a known vulnerability fix, then the module is considered affected.

JSON data

If you request JSON output, the data looks like:

    {
      "meta" : {
          ... meta information ...
      "dists": {
        "<distribution1>": {
          ... distribution info ...
        }
      }
      "errors" : [
        ... list of errors - if any ...
      ]
    }

Meta information

The meta data contains information about the run of "cpan-audit".

    {
      "args": [
        "Mojo::File",
        "Mojo::UserAgent",
        "LWP::UserAgent"
      ],
      "cpan_audit": {
        "version": "20230601.002"
      },
      "total_advisories": 19,
      "command": "modules"
    }

These information are shown:

•

cpan_audit

The version of "cpan_audit" that is used for the audit

•

command

The command of "cpan_audit" that was run

•

args

Arguments for the command

•

total_advisories

Number of found advisories

Distribution information

For each distribution where at least one advisory was found, the JSON looks like:

    "Dist-Name": {
      "queried_modules": [
        "Queried::Namespace"
      ],
      "version": "Any",
      "advisories": [
        {
          ... advisory data as in the audit database ...
        },
          ... more advisories ...
      ]
    },

The advisory data is basically the data from the database. So this depends on what is known for the given advisory.

The distribution information contains:

•

version

The version (range) that is checked for advisories. If there's no version specified, all versions are checked and the version is report as "Any".

•

queried_modules

The actual namespaces queried, either from the command line or another source, such as a cpanfile.

•

advisories

A list of all vulnerabilities found for the version range

Exit values

In prior versions, "cpan-audit" exited with the number of advisories it found. Starting with 1.001, if there are advisories found, "cpan-audit" exits with 64 added to that number. The maximum number of reported advisories is 62, since values over 126 are spoken for.

If the option "--exit-zero" is set "cpan-audit" exits always with a normal exit code (0). This allows you to use "cpan-audit" in build environments together with bash exit mode activated ("set -e").

•

0 - no advisories found

•

2 - problem with program invocation, such as bad switches or values

•

64+n - advisories found. Subtract 64 to get the advisory count, up to 62 advisories

•

255 - unspecified program error

LICENSE

Copyright (C) Viacheslav Tykhanovskyi.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

History