Cortex Cloud Visual Studio Code Plugin
Overview
The Cortex Cloud VSCode Plugin seamlessly is able to integrate with Cortex Cloud or Prisma Cloud's security checks into your Visual Studio Code environment. This plugin provides real-time feedback on potential security issues as you write code, ensuring that security is prioritized throughout the development process.
With the Cortex Cloud VSCode Plugin, developers can conveniently access features such as vulnerability scanning, code remediation, and policy enforcement directly within their coding workflow. Additionally, the plugin detects Infrastructure as Code (IaC) misconfigurations in templates like Kubernetes and Terraform, scans for Software Composition Analysis (SCA) vulnerabilities, identifies secrets vulnerabilities, and ensures compliance with software licensing requirements.
Policies and enforcement rules can be centrally managed within the platform, providing a streamlined approach to security management across your organization's development projects.
Features
- IaC Misconfigurations: Detect misconfigurations in IaC templates (e.g., Kubernetes, Terraform).
- SCA Vulnerabilities: Identify security issues in open-source dependencies.
- Secrets Detection: Uncover vulnerabilities related to stored secrets.
- License Compliance: Ensure adherence to software licensing requirements.
Installation
To install the Cortex Cloud VSCode Plugin, follow these steps:
- Open Visual Studio Code.
- Navigate to the Extensions view by clicking on the square icon in the sidebar or pressing
Ctrl+Shift+X.
- Search for
Cortex Cloud in the Extensions view search bar.
- Click on the
Cortex Cloud extension in the search results.
- Click the
Install button
Configuration
To adjust the Cortex Cloud VSCode Plugin settings, follow these steps:
- Open Visual Studio Code.
- Navigate to the extension settings by clicking on the gear icon in the sidebar or pressing
Ctrl+,.
- Find the
Cortex Cloud extension settings.
- Update the following fields:
- API Key ID: The Cortex Cloud or Prisma Cloud access key ID
- API Key: The Cortex Cloud or Prisma Cloud API key (secret).
- Platform URL: Your Platform URL e.g.
https://api-<customer>.xdr.<region>.paloaltonetworks.com/ or https://api.prismacloud.io.
- CLI version: Leave blank to use the latest scanner version, or specify a version of Cortex CLI or Checkov
- CLI Path: Specifies the path to the CLI scanner. Leave empty to let the extension manage the scanner installation (recommended)
- Disable Error Popups: Hides error message popups. View errors in the logs via the ‘Open Cortex Cloud Log’ command
- Certificate: Add the CA certificate as a .pem file format
- Use Enforcement Rules: Relevant to Prisma platform only. Enforce soft-fail thresholds for Prisma Cloud scans set by Enforcement apply for VS Code scans
Hard-fail and comment bot are not supported by the IDE. For more information on Enforcement, refer to the Enforcement documentation
- External checks dir: Provide the path to the folder containing custom security checks
- Specific Frameworks: Scan specific frameworks such as arm json secrets serverless. You can add multiple frameworks using spaces between the values in the command. Refer to Cortex CLI or Checkov CLI for more information.
- Environment Variables: Environment variables passed to the scanner during scans. Use for variables like ‘CKV_SKIP_CHECK | CKV_TF_1', etc.
Usage
Once configured, you can start using the Cortex Cloud VSCode Plugin to enhance your development workflow:
- Write your code as usual.
- The plugin will provide real-time feedback and security suggestions as you work.
- Use the provided actions and commands to address security issues and ensure compliance with best practices.
Additional Resources
