CPE Translations

CPE Translations are rules to address bugs when translating Fleet software to Common Platform Enumerations (CPEs) which are used to identify software in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)

To improve accuracy when mapping software to CVEs, we can add data to cpe_translations.json

How CPE translations work

CPE Translations are defined in cpe_translations.json and currently released in GitHub once a day. The rules are specified in JSON format and and each rule consists of a software and a filter object.

software defines matching logic on what Fleet Software this rule should apply to. You can use one or more of the below attributes to match on. Each attribute is an array of string or regex matches (a regex string is identified by a leading and trailing /).
A match on the attribute is found if at least 1 item in the array matches. If multiple attributes are defined, then a match is needed for each attribute. (ie. name == Zoom.app && source == apps)

software attributes:

• name: A software name attribute
• bundle_identifier: A software bundle_identifier attribute (macOS only)
• source: A software source attribute (ie. apps, chrome_extensions, etc...)

example: Search Fleet software for items that match: (bundle_identifier == us.zoom.xos) AND (source = apps)

"software": {
      "bundle_identifier": ["us.zoom.xos"],
      "source": ["apps"]
    }

If the software rule matches, then Fleet will search known NVD CPEs (stored in a local sqlite database) using the specified filters or skip the software item based on the filter specified.

filter attributes:

• product: array of strings to search by product field
• vendor: array of strings to search by vendor field
• target_sw: array of strings to search by target_sw field
• part: string to override the default "a" Part value
• skip: boolean; software is skipped if true. This overrides any other filters set.

Like the software matching logic, filter items are matched by OR within the array, and AND between filter items

example: Query the CPE database for a CPE that matches: (product == zoom OR product == meetings) AND (vendor == zoom) AND (target == macos OR target == mac_os)

"filter": {
      "product": ["zoom", "meetings"],
      "vendor": ["zoom"],
      "target_sw": ["macos", "mac_os"]
    }

Testing CPE Translations (end-to-end)

1. make the appropriate changes to cpe_translations

2. host this file on a local web server

   go run ./tools/file-server/main.go 8082 ./server/vulnerabilities/nvd/
   

3. (re)launch your local fleet server with one of the following

   Config method

   vulnerabilities:
   cpe_translations_url: "http://localhost:8082/cpe_translations.json"
   

   Environment method

   FLEET_VULNERABILITIES_CPE_TRANSLATIONS_URL="http://localhost:8082/cpe_translations.json" ./build/fleet serve --dev --dev_license --logging_debug
   

4. trigger a vulnerabilities scan

   fleetctl trigger --name vulnerabilities