diff --git a/DOCS.md b/DOCS.md
index f31fd5c0..272e7b65 100644
--- a/DOCS.md
+++ b/DOCS.md
@@ -4583,6 +4583,20 @@ The ids in this example show the field shape. A real scan fills them from the ad
 
 The same package can also carry `CVE-2024-1111` as its own advisory, with alias `GHSA-bbbb`. That is a second result. Its `properties.advisoryId` is `CVE-2024-1111`, its message names that CVE on its own (the id is already the advisory id), and `properties.aliases` is `["GHSA-bbbb"]`.
 
+#### Severity and `level`
+
+Each vulnerability result's `level` follows the advisory severity, which the result also carries in `properties.severity`:
+
+| `properties.severity` | `level` |
+| --------------------- | ------- |
+| `critical` | `error` |
+| `high` | `error` |
+| `moderate` | `warning` |
+| `low` | `note` |
+| `unknown` | `note` |
+
+`unknown` means the advisory data gave no usable severity, for example no severity label and no CVSS score. It gets `note`, the same as `low`, so an unscored advisory never outranks a scored one. Read `properties.severity` to tell the two apart. The `vibgrate/vulnerability` rule carries no `security-severity` property, so GitHub code scanning shows these alerts as Error, Warning, or Note from `level`.
+
 Test reporters that ingest JUnit can take a companion file from the same scan. See [JUnit](#junit). The process exit code is unchanged either way; see [Exit Codes](#exit-codes).
 
 ### Markdown
diff --git a/src/reporting/formatters/sarif-vulnerability-level.test.ts b/src/reporting/formatters/sarif-vulnerability-level.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b3a092b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/reporting/formatters/sarif-vulnerability-level.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+// `vg scan --vulns --format sarif` sets each vulnerability result's `level`
+// from the advisory severity. GitHub code scanning uses `level` to decide how
+// loudly to show an alert, so the mapping is pinned here and in the SARIF
+// section of DOCS.md. Advisories come from an offline manifest: no network.
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { formatSarif } from '../../core-open/formatters/sarif.js';
+import type { ManifestAdvisory, PackageVersionManifest } from '../../core-open/package-version-manifest.js';
+import { generateVulnerabilityFindings, scanVulnerabilities } from '../../core-open/scanners/vulnerability-scanner.js';
+import type { ScanArtifact } from '../../core-open/types.js';
+import { Semaphore } from '../../core-open/utils/semaphore.js';
+
+const advisory = (id: string, fields: Partial<ManifestAdvisory>): ManifestAdvisory => ({ id, versions: ['1.0.0'], ...fields });
+
+const manifest: PackageVersionManifest = {
+  npm: {
+    'left-pad': {
+      vulns: [
+        advisory('VG-TEST-LOW', { severity: 'low' }),
+        advisory('VG-TEST-UNSCORED', {}),
+        advisory('VG-TEST-CRITICAL', { severity: 'critical' }),
+        advisory('VG-TEST-MODERATE', { severity: 'moderate' }),
+        advisory('VG-TEST-CVSS-ONLY', { cvss: 7.5 }),
+        advisory('VG-TEST-HIGH', { severity: 'high' }),
+      ],
+    },
+  },
+};
+
+async function sarifResults() {
+  const scan = await scanVulnerabilities([{ ecosystem: 'npm', package: 'left-pad', version: '1.0.0' }], {
+    sem: new Semaphore(1),
+    offline: true,
+    manifest,
+  });
+  const artifact = { findings: generateVulnerabilityFindings(scan) } as unknown as ScanArtifact;
+  const sarif = formatSarif(artifact) as {
+    runs: Array<{ results: Array<{ ruleId: string; level: string; properties: { advisoryId: string; severity: string } }> }>;
+  };
+  return sarif.runs[0].results;
+}
+
+describe('SARIF level for vulnerability findings', () => {
+  it('maps critical and high to error, moderate to warning, low and unscored to note', async () => {
+    const rows = (await sarifResults()).map((r) => ({
+      advisoryId: r.properties.advisoryId,
+      severity: r.properties.severity,
+      level: r.level,
+    }));
+
+    expect(rows).toEqual([
+      { advisoryId: 'VG-TEST-CRITICAL', severity: 'critical', level: 'error' },
+      { advisoryId: 'VG-TEST-CVSS-ONLY', severity: 'high', level: 'error' },
+      { advisoryId: 'VG-TEST-HIGH', severity: 'high', level: 'error' },
+      { advisoryId: 'VG-TEST-MODERATE', severity: 'moderate', level: 'warning' },
+      { advisoryId: 'VG-TEST-LOW', severity: 'low', level: 'note' },
+      { advisoryId: 'VG-TEST-UNSCORED', severity: 'unknown', level: 'note' },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the unscored advisory distinguishable from a low one', async () => {
+    const results = await sarifResults();
+    const low = results.find((r) => r.properties.advisoryId === 'VG-TEST-LOW');
+    const unscored = results.find((r) => r.properties.advisoryId === 'VG-TEST-UNSCORED');
+
+    expect(low?.level).toBe(unscored?.level);
+    expect(low?.properties.severity).toBe('low');
+    expect(unscored?.properties.severity).toBe('unknown');
+  });
+
+  it('produces the same results on every run', async () => {
+    expect(JSON.stringify(await sarifResults())).toBe(JSON.stringify(await sarifResults()));
+  });
+});