Part 6 : Static Analysis for Configuration and Application Code: Tools and Best Practices

Configuration code and application code both need to be treated with the same rigor as any other software. Bugs in configuration can be especially dangerous because they can create operational outages, scalability issues, or security vulnerabilities at scale. Unfortunately, reviewing this code often requires specialized knowledge of the underlying platforms and tools, which makes mistakes easier to miss.

This is where static analysis comes in. Static analysis tools help detect common errors, enforce best practices, and highlight potential security issues—before they impact production.

Static Analysis for Configuration Management

Chef

• RuboCop – Ruby style and code quality checks.

• Cookstyle – Chef’s official linting tool, powered by RuboCop.

• Foodcritic (Sunsetted 2019) – legacy tool, no longer maintained.

Puppet

• Puppet-lint – syntax and style checks.

• puppet-lint-security-plugins – additional security rules.

• Puppeteer – automated testing for Puppet code.

Ansible

• Ansible-lint – ensures playbooks follow best practices.

• KICS – infrastructure-as-code security scanner.

AWS CloudFormation

• cfn_nag – scans templates for insecure patterns.

• cfripper – evaluates IAM and security risks.

• cfn-python-lint – syntax validation.

• CloudFormation Guard – policy-as-code validation.

• Checkov – scans IaC for misconfigurations.

Static Analysis for Application Code

Java

• Code Quality & Bugs: FindBugs (legacy), SpotBugs, PMD, Checkstyle.

• Security: Find Security Bugs, fb-contrib.

• Advanced Analysis: Error Prone (Google), Infer (Meta), SonarSource.

.NET / C#

• FxCop – legacy, built into Visual Studio.

• StyleCop – style enforcement.

• Puma Scan – security plugin.

• Security Code Scan – Roslyn-based security checks.

• Roslynator – analyzers & refactorings.

• SonarSource.

JavaScript

• Style & Quality: ESLint, JSHint, JSLint.

• Security: NodeJsScan.

• Others: Closure Compiler, Flow, SonarSource.

PHP

• Phan + Taint Check Plugin.

• PHP CodeSniffer, PHP Mess Detector.

• Progpilot, Exakat.

• RIPS (commercial), SonarSource.

Ruby

• Brakeman (security), Dawnscanner.

• RuboCop, RubyCritic.

• Railroader, SonarSource.

Python

• Bandit, Dlint.

• Pylint, Pytype.

• Pyre, Pyright.

• SonarSource.

C / C++

• Cppcheck, Clang Analyzer, OCLint.

• Flawfinder, Infer, SonarSource.

Objective-C / Swift

• Xcode Analyze.

• SwiftLint, OCLint.

• Infer, Faux Pas, SonarSource.

Android

• Android Lint, Qark.

• Custom Lint Rules.

• Infer.

Go

• Vet, Lint.

• errcheck, dingo-hunter.

• Gosec, SafeSQL.

• SonarSource.

Multi-Language Static Analysis

For teams working across multiple languages and frameworks:

• GitHub CodeQL – semantic code analysis.

• Semgrep – fast, rule-based multi-language scanner.

Best Practices for Using Static Analysis

1. Integrate Early – run lightweight checks in CI/CD pipelines to catch issues before deployment.

2. Balance Depth & Speed – use incremental scans during commits, and schedule deep scans out-of-band.

3. Triage Findings – security teams should filter false positives and prioritize high-confidence issues.

4. Automate Feedback – push findings directly into developer workflows (IDE plugins, backlog tickets).

5. Combine Tools – no single tool covers everything; use a combination for better coverage.

Conclusion

Static analysis is not just about checking code quality—it’s about catching vulnerabilities early, reducing technical debt, and preventing misconfigurations from becoming large-scale risks. With the right mix of tools and practices, development and security teams can collaborate more effectively, building software that is both reliable and secure.

---------------------------------------------Dean----------------------------------------------------