Vulnerability Assessment Tools

PHP developer roles that require experience with vulnerability assessment tools are focused on proactively identifying and mitigating security risks within web applications. This skillset is crucial in a DevSecOps culture, where security is integrated into every stage of the software development lifecycle, rather than being an afterthought.

Types of Assessment Tools in PHP

Developers typically work with two main categories of assessment tools.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

SAST tools analyze the PHP source code without executing it. They are excellent for finding issues like SQL injection flaws, insecure dependencies via composer.json, or improper use of cryptographic functions. Examples include SonarQube, Snyk, or even static analyzers like Psalm with security plugins.

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

DAST tools test the running application from the outside, simulating attacks to find vulnerabilities. They can identify issues like Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), insecure server configurations, and information leakage. Common tools include OWASP ZAP and Burp Suite.

Responsibilities

A developer's duties include running scans, interpreting reports, filtering out false positives, and implementing code fixes to remediate the identified vulnerabilities.