Skip to main content
Calico Cloud documentation

Exclude vulnerabilities from scan results

This guide shows you how to exclude vulnerabilities from your image scan results. By excluding vulnerabilities that don't require action, such as false positives, you can reduce the volume of reported vulnerabilities that you need to deal with. You can set the exclusion for a particular vulnerability to apply to a particular image version, all images in a repository, or all images in the system.

caution

Excluding vulnerabilities from image results can significantly change how Image Assurance determines image health. You may need to take corrective action to stabilize your workflow.

  • Maximum CVSS score: An image’s maximum CVSS score may be reduced to a lower score. An exception could eliminate the vulnerability with the highest CVSS score for an image.
  • Scan assessment: The assessment value (Pass, Warn, or Fail) could change because it is based on the maximum CVSS score. For example, Fail could change to Warn, and Warn could change to Pass.
  • Vulnerability global alerts: Alerts may no longer be triggered. Alerts are triggered based on scan results or maximum CVSS score values of images.
  • Admission controller policies: Pods could be created where they were previously blocked. Admission controller policies are based on vulnerability information (scan result or maximum CVSS score).

Exclude a vulnerability from your scan results​

You can exclude a vulnerability from your scan results page.

  1. From the Calico Cloud Manager UI, go to Image Assurance > All Scan Results.
  2. Select an image from the list.
  3. On the scan results panel that appears, expand a package, and then click Actions > Add Exception.
  4. On the Add exception dialog, select a scope, enter an explanation for why you're creating an exception, and then click Save.

Exclude multiple vulnerabilities at the same time​

To exclude large numbers of vulnerabilities, you can organize the required information as a CSV file and import it directly to Calico Cloud.

  1. Optional: You can start with a preformatted list of all vulnerabilities in your cluster, and then edit the list to include only those vulnerabilities you want to exclude.

  2. From the Calico Cloud Manager UI, go to Image Assurance > All Scan Results.

  3. On the All Scan Results page, click the Export button, and then click Export data.

  4. On the Export dialog that appears, select the CSV data type and the Export a row for each image and CVE IDs option for the table style. Click Export to download the CSV file.

  5. Edit the CSV file

  6. Prepare the CSV file with information about the vulnerabilities you want to exclude. The file must contain the following information:

Column headerDescriptionExample
CVEThe CVE identifier. Required by the any, repo, and image scopes.CVE-2024-1234
RegistryThe URL path to the container registry. Required by the repo and image scopes.mycontainerregistry.io/my-org
RepositoryThe container image name. Required by the repo and image scopes.my-application
TagsA JSON list of image tags. Required by the image scope."[""v1.2.3"",""v2.3.4""]"
JustificationYour explanation for why you're excluding this vulnerability. Required by the any, image, and image scopes.This one is a false positive.
ScopeDetermines whether the vulnerability exception applies only to specific tagged images, to any image in a specific repository, or to any image where the vulnerability is found. One of the following values is required:
• any: The exception applies to all images.
• repo: The exception applies to all versions of an image in a repository.
• image: The exception applies to a specific, tagged version of an image.		image
tip

An exported vulnerability list (see step 1) includes many more columns than what is required to import vulnerability exceptions in bulk. You do not need to remove or reorganize the extraneous information, but you do need to add two new columns for Justification and Scope.

Example: a CSV list of vulnerability exclusion definitions

CVE,Registry,Repository,Tags,Justification,Scope
CVE-2024-1234,mycontainerregistry.io/my-org,my-application,"[""v3.4.5""]",justification,image
CVE-2024-2345,mycontainerregistry.io/my-org,my-application,"[""v1.2.3"",""v2.3.4""]",justification,image
CVE-2024-3456,mycontainerregistry.io/my-org,my-application,,justification,repo
CVE-2024-4567,,,,justification,any
  1. In the Calico Cloud Manager UI, go to Image Assurance > Vulnerability Exceptions, and then click  Upload exceptions.
  2. Select the CSV file you created, and then click Upload file. After the data is validated, you'll see a summary of the exceptions. If there are errors, modify your CSV file and repeats steps 1 and 2.
  3. Review the processed exceptions on the summary page click Create exceptions. The new exceptions are listed on the Vulnerability Exceptions page.