lab-08.md

permalink	/labs/lab-08
title	Lab 08 - Viewing Results in GitHub Security Tab
description	Navigate the GitHub Security tab, filter Code Scanning alerts by tool and severity, view finding details with source code context, explore Dependabot alerts, and manage alert lifecycle.

Overview

Duration	25 minutes
Level	Intermediate
Prerequisites	Lab 07 (workflows completed)

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lab, you will be able to:

• Navigate the GitHub Security tab and locate Code Scanning alerts
• Filter alerts by tool, severity, and category prefix
• View finding details including rule description, severity, file path, and code snippet
• Explore Dependabot alerts for dependency vulnerabilities
• Manage alerts by dismissing findings or creating GitHub Issues

Exercises

Exercise 8.1: Navigate to Security Tab

Locate the Security tab where GitHub aggregates all scanning results.

1. Open your repository on GitHub.
2. Click the Security tab in the top navigation bar. If you do not see it, click the ... (more) menu to reveal additional tabs.
3. In the left sidebar, click Code scanning alerts. This page displays all findings uploaded from your GitHub Actions workflows via SARIF.
4. Review the alerts overview. GitHub groups alerts by state (Open, Closed) and shows a count for each severity level.

Exercise 8.2: Filter and Explore Alerts

Use the filter controls to narrow alerts by tool, severity, and category.

1. Click the Tool dropdown and select one of the scanning tools (for example, the security scanner). The list updates to show only alerts from that tool.
2. Click the Severity dropdown and filter by Error. These correspond to CRITICAL and HIGH severity findings from the framework.
3. Try filtering by category prefix by typing a prefix such as security/ or code-quality/ in the search bar. GitHub uses the automationDetails.id field from the SARIF file to support this filtering.
4. Combine multiple filters to focus on the most relevant findings. For example, filter by tool and severity together to see only high-priority security alerts.
5. Note the total count of alerts for each filter combination. This gives you a sense of the finding distribution across domains and severity levels.

Exercise 8.3: View Finding Details

Click into an individual finding to see the full detail view.

1. Click any alert in the list to open its detail page.

2. Review the information displayed:

   Section	Description
   Rule description	Explanation of what the rule checks and why it matters
   Severity	SARIF level mapped to GitHub severity (Error, Warning, Note)
   File path	Exact file where the issue was detected
   Line number	Specific line in the source code
   Code snippet	Highlighted code context around the finding
   Rule ID	Unique identifier matching ruleId in the SARIF file

3. Compare this information to what you saw in Exercise 6.1 when examining the raw SARIF. The fields map directly: ruleId to Rule ID, level to Severity, locations[] to File path and Line number, message.text to the description.

4. If the finding references a CWE or WCAG criterion, click the link to view the standard description.

Exercise 8.4: Explore Dependabot Alerts

Review dependency vulnerability alerts separately from code scanning.

1. Return to the Security tab.

2. In the left sidebar, click Dependabot alerts.

3. Dependabot monitors your package.json and other manifest files for known vulnerabilities in third-party dependencies.

4. If alerts are present, click one to review:

   • The affected package name and version
   • The vulnerability severity and CVE identifier
   • The recommended fix (usually a version upgrade)
   • Whether Dependabot can generate an automated pull request to fix it

5. If no Dependabot alerts appear, this means your current dependencies have no known vulnerabilities at this time.

Tip

Dependabot alerts operate separately from SARIF uploads. SARIF-based code scanning covers application and infrastructure issues found by agents, while Dependabot covers known CVEs in third-party packages.

Exercise 8.5: Manage Alerts

Practice the alert lifecycle by dismissing a finding and creating an issue from another.

1. Return to Code scanning alerts.

2. Select a low-priority alert (Note severity) that you want to dismiss.

3. Click Dismiss alert and choose a reason:

   Reason	When to Use
   Won't fix	The finding is valid but does not apply to your context
   False positive	The finding is incorrect and the code is not vulnerable
   Used in tests	The flagged pattern exists only in test code

4. The alert moves to the Closed state. You can reopen it later if needed.

5. Select a different alert that warrants tracking.

6. Click Create issue (or use the kebab menu to find this option). GitHub creates a new Issue pre-populated with the finding details including the rule, file, and description.

7. Review the created Issue. It contains enough context for a developer to understand and remediate the finding without returning to the Security tab.

Verification Checkpoint

Before proceeding, verify:

• You navigated to the Security tab and located Code Scanning alerts
• You filtered alerts by tool, severity, and category prefix
• You opened a finding detail page and identified the rule, severity, file path, and code snippet
• You explored the Dependabot alerts section
• You dismissed at least one alert and created a GitHub Issue from another

Next Steps

Proceed to Lab 09 to explore FinOps governance and cost analysis with Copilot agents.