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Dependency-Check is a Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tool that attempts to detect publicly disclosed vulnerabilities contained within a project's dependencies. It does this by determining if there is a Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) identifier for a given dependency. If found, it will generate a report linking to the associated CVE entries.

Documentation and links to production binary releases can be found on thegithub pages. Additionally, more information about the architecture and ways to extend dependency-check can be found on thewiki.

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

Due to NVD API compatiiblity changes, an upgrade is mandatory. See#7463 for more information.

• Java 11 is now required to run dependency-check11.0.0 or higher

• H2 database upgrade

  11.0.0 contains breaking changes using the local H2 database. A full downloadof the NVD data will occur. Note that if you are using a shared data directorythe h2 database file is not compatible with older versions of dependency-check.If you run into problems you may need to run a purge:

  • gradle:./gradlew dependencyCheckPurge
  • maven:mvn org.owasp:dependency-check-maven:11.0.0:purge
  • cli:dependency-check.sh --purge

Dependency-check moved from using the NVD data-feed to the NVD API since9.0.0+ (January 2024).Users of dependency-check arehighly encouraged to obtain an NVD API Key; seehttps://nvd.nist.gov/developers/request-an-api-keyWithout an NVD API Key dependency-check's updates will beextremely slow.Please see the documentation for the cli, maven, gradle, or ant integrations onhow to set the NVD API key.

The NVD API has enforced rate limits. If you are using a single API KEY andmultiple builds occur you could hit the rate limit and receive 403 errors. Ina CI environment one must use a caching strategy.

In September 2025 Sonatype OSSIndex started enforcing use of API tokens. If youwish to use Sonatype OSSIndex you must configure Dependency-Checkto use a username and API token/password; seehttps://ossindex.sonatype.org/doc/api-token.Without OSSIndex credentials, Dependency Check willautomatically disable the OSSIndex analyzer.Please see the documentation for the cli, maven, gradle, or ant integrations onhow to set the OSSIndex credentials.

With9.0.0+ users may encounter issues withNoSuchMethodError exceptions due todependency resolution. If you encounter this issue you will need to pin some ofthe transitive dependencies of dependency-check to specific versions. For example:

/buildSrc/build.gradle

dependencies {    constraints {// org.owasp.dependencycheck needs at least this version of jackson. Other plugins pull in older versions..        add("implementation","com.fasterxml.jackson:jackson-bom:2.16.1")// org.owasp.dependencycheck needs these versions. Other plugins pull in older versions..        add("implementation","org.apache.commons:commons-lang3:3.14.0")        add("implementation","org.apache.commons:commons-text:1.11.0")    }}

Minimum Java Version: Java 11

OWASP dependency-check requires access to several externally hosted resources.For more information seeInternet Access Required.

In order to analyze some technology stacks dependency-check may require otherdevelopment tools to be installed. Some of the analysis listed below may beexperimental and require the experimental analyzers to be enabled.

1. To analyze .NET Assemblies the dotnet 8 run time or SDK must be installed.
   • Assemblies targeting other run times can be analyzed - but 8 is required to run the analysis.
2. If analyzing GoLang projectsgo must be installed.
3. The analysis ofElixir projects requiresmix_audit.
4. The analysis ofnpm,pnpm, andyarn projects requiresnpm,pnpm, oryarn to be installed.
   • The analysis performed utilize the respectiveaudit feature of each.
5. The analysis of Ruby is a wrapper aroundbundle-audit, which must be installed.

For instructions on the use of the Jenkins plugin please see theOWASP Dependency-Check Plugin page.

More detailed instructions can be found on thedependency-check github pages.The latest CLI can be downloaded from github in thereleases section.

Downloading the latest release:

$ VERSION=$(curl -s https://dependency-check.github.io/DependencyCheck/current.txt)$ curl -Ls "https://github.com/dependency-check/DependencyCheck/releases/download/v$VERSION/dependency-check-$VERSION-release.zip" --output dependency-check.zip

On *nix

$ ./bin/dependency-check.sh -h$ ./bin/dependency-check.sh --out . --scan [path to jar files to be scanned]

On Windows

> .\bin\dependency-check.bat -h> .\bin\dependency-check.bat --out . --scan [path to jar files to be scanned]

On Mac withHomebrewNote - homebrew users upgrading from 5.x to 6.0.0 will need to rundependency-check.sh --purge.

$ brew update && brew install dependency-check$ dependency-check -h$ dependency-check --out . --scan [path to jar files to be scanned]

More detailed instructions can be found on thedependency-check-maven github pages.By default, the plugin is tied to theverify phase (i.e.mvn verify). Alternatively,one can directly invoke the plugin viamvn org.owasp:dependency-check-maven:check.

The dependency-check plugin can be configured using the following:

<project>    <build>        <plugins>            ...            <plugin>              <groupId>org.owasp</groupId>              <artifactId>dependency-check-maven</artifactId>              <executions>                  <execution>                      <goals>                          <goal>check</goal>                      </goals>                  </execution>              </executions>            </plugin>            ...        </plugins>        ...    </build>    ...</project>

For instructions on the use of the Gradle Plugin, please see thedependency-check-gradle github page.

For instructions on the use of the Ant Task, please see thedependency-check-ant github page.

For installation to pass, you must have the following components installed:

• Java:java -version 11.0
• Maven:mvn -version 3.6.3 and higher

Tests cases require:

• dotnet core version 8.0
• Go:go version 1.12 and higher
• Rubybundler-audit
• Yarn
• pnpm

The following instructions outline how to compile and use the current snapshot. While every intention is to maintain a stable snapshot it is recommendedthat the release versions listed above be used.

The repository has some large files due to test resources. The team has tried to clean up the history as much as possible.However, it is recommended that you perform a shallow clone to save yourself time:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dependency-check/DependencyCheck.git

On *nix

$ mvn -s settings.xml install$ ./cli/target/release/bin/dependency-check.sh -h$ ./cli/target/release/bin/dependency-check.sh --out . --scan ./src/test/resources

On Windows

> mvn -s settings.xml install> .\cli\target\release\bin\dependency-check.bat -h> .\cli\target\release\bin\dependency-check.bat --out . --scan ./src/test/resources

Then load the resulting 'dependency-check-report.html' into your favorite browser.

To speed up your turnaround cycle times, you can also compile without running the tests each time:
mvn -s settings.xml install -DskipTests=true

Please remember to at least run the tests once before opening the PR. :)

To be able to debug your tests in IntelliJ Idea, you can introduce a maven configuration that executes your test and enables debugging with breakpoints etc.
Basically, you do what´s described inhttps://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/work-with-tests-in-maven.html#run_single_test and set theforkCount to 0, otherwise debugging won´t work.

Step by step:

• Run -> Edit Configurations
• + (Add new configuration) -> Maven
• Give the Configuration a name, e.g.Run tests
• Choose working directory, e.g.core
• Incommand line, enter-DforkCount=0 -f pom.xml -s ../settings.xml test
• PressOK
• Run -> Debug, then choose the newly created run configuration

IntelliJ will now execute the test run for thecore subproject with enabled debugging. Breakpoints set anywhere in code should work.

If you would like to speed up your turnaround cycle times, you can also just test one function or one test class.
This works by adding-Dtest=MyTestClass or-Dtest=MyTestClass#myTestFunction to the run configuration. The complete command line in the run configuration then would be:

-Dtest=MyTestClass#myTestFunction -DforkCount=0 -f pom.xml -s ../settings.xml test

In the following example it is assumed that the source to be checked is in the current working directory and the reports will be written to$(pwd)/odc-reports. Persistent data and cache directories are used, allowing you to destroy the container after running.

For Linux:

#!/bin/shDC_VERSION="latest"DC_DIRECTORY=$HOME/OWASP-Dependency-CheckDC_PROJECT="dependency-check scan:$(pwd)"DATA_DIRECTORY="$DC_DIRECTORY/data"CACHE_DIRECTORY="$DC_DIRECTORY/data/cache"if [!-d"$DATA_DIRECTORY" ];thenecho"Initially creating persistent directory:$DATA_DIRECTORY"    mkdir -p"$DATA_DIRECTORY"fiif [!-d"$CACHE_DIRECTORY" ];thenecho"Initially creating persistent directory:$CACHE_DIRECTORY"    mkdir -p"$CACHE_DIRECTORY"fi# Make sure we are using the latest versiondocker pull owasp/dependency-check:$DC_VERSIONdocker run --rm \    -e user=$USER \    -u$(id -u${USER}):$(id -g${USER}) \    --volume$(pwd):/src:z \    --volume"$DATA_DIRECTORY":/usr/share/dependency-check/data:z \    --volume$(pwd)/odc-reports:/report:z \    owasp/dependency-check:$DC_VERSION \    --scan /src \    --format"ALL" \    --project"$DC_PROJECT" \    --out /report# Use suppression like this: (where /src == $pwd)# --suppression "/src/security/dependency-check-suppression.xml"

For Windows:

@echooffsetDC_VERSION="latest"setDC_DIRECTORY=%USERPROFILE%\OWASP-Dependency-CheckSETDC_PROJECT="dependency-check scan:%CD%"setDATA_DIRECTORY="%DC_DIRECTORY%\data"setCACHE_DIRECTORY="%DC_DIRECTORY%\data\cache"IFNOTEXIST%DATA_DIRECTORY% (echo Initially creating persistent directory:%DATA_DIRECTORY%mkdir%DATA_DIRECTORY%)IFNOTEXIST%CACHE_DIRECTORY% (echo Initially creating persistent directory:%CACHE_DIRECTORY%mkdir%CACHE_DIRECTORY%)rem Make sure we are using the latest versiondocker pull owasp/dependency-check:%DC_VERSION%docker run --rm^    --volume%CD%:/src^    --volume%DATA_DIRECTORY%:/usr/share/dependency-check/data^    --volume%CD%/odc-reports:/report^    owasp/dependency-check:%DC_VERSION%^    --scan /src^    --format"ALL"^    --project"%DC_PROJECT%"^    --out /reportrem Use suppression like this: (where /src == %CD%)rem --suppression "/src/security/dependency-check-suppression.xml"

To build dependency-check (using Java 11) run the command:

mvn -s settings.xml install

Dependency-check references several vulnerable dependencies that are never usedexcept as test resources. All of these optional test dependencies are included inthetest-dependencies profile. To run dependency-check against itself simpleexclude thetest-dependencies profile:

mvn org.owasp:dependency-check-maven:aggregate -P-test-dependencies -DskipProvidedScope=true

The documentation on thegithub pages is generated from this repository:

mvn -s settings.xml site site:stage

Once done, point your browser to./target/staging/index.html.

To build dependency-check docker image run the command:

mvn -s settings.xml install./build-docker.sh

Permission to modify and redistribute is granted under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license. See theLICENSE.txt file for the full license.

Dependency-Check makes use of several other open source libraries. Please see theNOTICE.txt file for more information.

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

Copyright (c) 2012-2025 Jeremy Long. All Rights Reserved.