mrvacommander/notes/cli-end-to-end-demo.org

• End-to-end example of CLI use
• Database Aquisition
• Repository Selection
  • Optional: The meaning of the names
• Starting the server
  • Optional: Inspect the Backing Store
  • Optional: Inspect the MinIO DB
• Running the gh-mrva command-line client
  • Run MRVA from command line
  • Write query that has some results
• Footnotes

End-to-end example of CLI use

This document describes a complete cycle of the MRVA workflow. The steps included are

1. aquiring CodeQL databases
2. selection of databases
3. configuration and use of the command-line client
4. server startup
5. submission of the jobs
6. retrieval of the results
7. examination of the results

Database Aquisition

General database aquisition is beyond the scope of this document as it is very specific to an organization's environment.

For this demo, the data is preloaded via container. To inspect it:

  # On host, run 
  docker exec -it dbstore /bin/bash

  # In the container
  ls -la /data/dbstore-data/
  ls  /data/dbstore-data/qldb/ | wc -l

Here we use a small sample of an example for open-source repositories, 23 in all.

Repository Selection

When using all of the MRVA system, we select a small subset of repositories available to you in Database Aquisition. For this demo we include a small collection – 23 repositories – and here we further narrow the selection to 12.

The full list

  ls -1 /data/dbstore-data/qldb/
  'BoomingTech$Piccoloctsj6d7177.zip'
  'KhronosGroup$OpenXR-SDKctsj984ee6.zip'
  'OpenRCT2$OpenRCT2ctsj975d7c.zip'
  'StanfordLegion$legionctsj39cbe4.zip'
  'USCiLab$cerealctsj264953.zip'
  'WinMerge$winmergectsj101305.zip'
  'draios$sysdigctsj12c02d.zip'
  'gildor2$UEViewerctsjfefdd8.zip'
  'git-for-windows$gitctsjb7c2bd.zip'
  'google$orbitctsj9bbeaf.zip'
  'libfuse$libfusectsj7a66a4.zip'
  'luigirizzo$netmapctsj6417fa.zip'
  'mawww$kakounectsjc54fab.zip'
  'microsoft$node-native-keymapctsj4cc9a2.zip'
  'nem0$LumixEnginectsjfab756.zip'
  'pocoproject$pococtsj26b932.zip'
  'quickfix$quickfixctsjebfd13.zip'
  'rui314$moldctsjfec16a.zip'
  'swig$swigctsj78bcd3.zip'
  'tdlib$telegram-bot-apictsj8529d9.zip'
  'timescale$timescaledbctsjf617cf.zip'
  'xoreaxeaxeax$movfuscatorctsj8f7e5b.zip'
  'xrootd$xrootdctsje4b745.zip'

The selection of 12 repositories, from an initial collection of 6000 was made using a collection of Python/pandas scripts made for the purpose, the qldbtools package. The resulting selection, in the format expected by the VS Code extension, follows.

  cat  /data/qldbtools/scratch/vscode-selection.json
  {
      "version": 1,
      "databases": {
          "variantAnalysis": {
              "repositoryLists": [
                  {
                      "name": "mirva-list",
                      "repositories": [
                          "xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscatorctsj8f7e5b",
                          "microsoft/node-native-keymapctsj4cc9a2",
                          "BoomingTech/Piccoloctsj6d7177",
                          "USCiLab/cerealctsj264953",
                          "KhronosGroup/OpenXR-SDKctsj984ee6",
                          "tdlib/telegram-bot-apictsj8529d9",
                          "WinMerge/winmergectsj101305",
                          "timescale/timescaledbctsjf617cf",
                          "pocoproject/pococtsj26b932",
                          "quickfix/quickfixctsjebfd13",
                          "libfuse/libfusectsj7a66a4"
                      ]
                  }
              ],
              "owners": [],
              "repositories": []
          }
      },
      "selected": {
          "kind": "variantAnalysisUserDefinedList",
          "listName": "mirva-list"
      }

This selection is deceptively simple. For a full explanation, see Repository Selection in the detailed version of this document.

Optional: The meaning of the names

The repository names all end with ctsj followed by 6 hex digits like ctsj4cc9a2.

The information critial for selection of databases are the columns

1. owner
2. name
3. language
4. "sha"
5. "cliVersion"
6. "creationTime"

There are others that may be useful, but they are not strictly required.

The critical ones deserve more explanation:

1. "sha": The git commit SHA of the repository the CodeQL database was created from. Required to distinguish query results over the evolution of a code base.
2. "cliVersion": The version of the CodeQL CLI used to create the database. Required to identify advances/regressions originating from the CodeQL binary.
3. "creationTime": The time the database was created. Required (or at least very handy) for following the evolution of query results over time.

There is a computed column, CID. The CID column combines

• cliVersion
• creationTime
• language
• sha

into a single 6-character string via hashing. Together with (owner, repo) it provides a unique index for every DB.

For this document, we simply use a pseudo-random selection of 11 databases via

  ./bin/mc-db-generate-selection -n 11 \
                                 scratch/vscode-selection.json \
                                 scratch/gh-mrva-selection.json \
                                 < scratch/db-info-3.csv

Note that these use pseudo-random numbers, so the selection is in fact deterministic.

Starting the server

Clone the full repository before continuing:

  mkdir -p ~/work-gh/mrva/
  git clone git@github.com:hohn/mrvacommander.git

Make sure Docker is installed and running. With docker-compose set up and this repository cloned, we just run

  cd ~/work-gh/mrva/mrvacommander
  docker-compose -f docker-compose-demo.yml up -d

and wait until the log output no longer changes. Should look like

  docker-compose -f docker-compose-demo.yml up -d
  [+] Running 27/6
   ✔ dbstore Pulled 1.1s
   ✔ artifactstore Pulled 1.1s
   ✔ mrvadata 3 layers [⣿⣿⣿]      0B/0B      Pulled 263.8s
   ✔ server 2 layers [⣿⣿]      0B/0B      Pulled 25.2s
   ✔ agent 5 layers [⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿]      0B/0B      Pulled 24.9s
   ✔ client-qldbtools 11 layers [⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿]      0B/0B      Pulled 20.8s
  [+] Running 9/9
   ✔ Container mrvadata Started 0.3s
   ✔ Container mrvacommander-client-qldbtools-1  Started 0.3s
   ✔ Container mrvacommander-client-ghmrva-1     Running 0.0s
   ✔ Container mrvacommander-code-server-1       Running 0.0s
   ✔ Container artifactstore Running 0.0s
   ✔ Container rabbitmq Running 0.0s
   ✔ Container dbstore Started 0.4s
   ✔ Container agent Started 0.5s
   ✔ Container server Started 0.5s

The content is prepopulated in the dbstore container.

Optional: Inspect the Backing Store

As completely optional step, you can inspect the backing store:

  docker exec -it dbstore /bin/bash
  ls /data/qldb/
  # 'BoomingTech$Piccoloctsj6d7177.zip'	 'mawww$kakounectsjc54fab.zip'
  # 'KhronosGroup$OpenXR-SDKctsj984ee6.zip'  'microsoft$node-native-keymapctsj4cc9a2.zip'
  # ...

Optional: Inspect the MinIO DB

Another completely optional step, you can inspect the minio DB contents if you have the minio cli installed:

  # Configuration
  MINIO_ALIAS="qldbminio"
  MINIO_URL="http://localhost:9000"
  MINIO_ROOT_USER="user"
  MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD="mmusty8432"
  QL_DB_BUCKET_NAME="qldb"

  # Check for MinIO client
  if ! command -v mc &> /dev/null
  then
      echo "MinIO client (mc) not found."
  fi

  # Configure MinIO client
  mc alias set $MINIO_ALIAS $MINIO_URL $MINIO_ROOT_USER $MINIO_ROOT_PASSWORD

  # Show contents
  mc ls qldbminio/qldb

Running the gh-mrva command-line client

The first run uses the test query to verify basic functionality, but it returns no results.

XX: mrvacommander-client-ghmrva-1

Run MRVA from command line

1. Install mrva cli

     mkdir -p ~/work-gh/mrva && cd ~/work-gh/mrva
     git clone https://github.com/hohn/gh-mrva.git
     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva && git checkout mrvacommander-end-to-end
   
     # Build it
     go mod edit -replace="github.com/GitHubSecurityLab/gh-mrva=$HOME/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva"
     go build .
   
     # Sanity check
     ./gh-mrva -h

2. Set up the configuration

     mkdir -p ~/.config/gh-mrva
     cat > ~/.config/gh-mrva/config.yml <<eof
     # The following options are supported
     # codeql_path: Path to CodeQL distribution (checkout of codeql repo)
     # controller: NWO of the MRVA controller to use.  Not used here.
     # list_file: Path to the JSON file containing the target repos
   
     # XX:
     codeql_path: $HOME/work-gh/not-used
     controller: not-used/mirva-controller
     list_file: $HOME/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/gh-mrva-selection.json
     eof

3. Submit the mrva job

     cp ~/work-gh/mrva/mrvacommander/client/qldbtools/scratch/gh-mrva-selection.json \
        ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/gh-mrva-selection.json 
   
     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
     ./gh-mrva submit --language cpp --session mirva-session-1360    \
               --list mirva-list                                     \
               --query ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/FlatBuffersFunc.ql

4. Check the status

     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
   
     # Check the status
     ./gh-mrva status --session mirva-session-1360

5. Download the sarif files, optionally also get databases. For the current query / database combination there are zero result hence no downloads.

     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
     # Just download the sarif files
     ./gh-mrva download --session mirva-session-1360 \
               --output-dir mirva-session-1360
   
     # Download the sarif files and CodeQL dbs
     ./gh-mrva download --session mirva-session-1360 \
               --download-dbs \
               --output-dir mirva-session-1360

Write query that has some results

First, get the list of paths corresponding to the previously selected databases.

  cd ~/work-gh/mrva/mrvacommander/client/qldbtools 
  ./bin/mc-rows-from-mrva-list scratch/gh-mrva-selection.json \
                               scratch/db-info-3.csv > scratch/selection-full-info
  csvcut -c path scratch/selection-full-info

Use one of these databases to write a query. It need not produce results.

  cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
  code gh-mrva.code-workspace

In this case, the trivial findPrintf:

  /**
   ,* @name findPrintf
   ,* @description find calls to plain fprintf
   ,* @kind problem
   ,* @id cpp-fprintf-call
   ,* @problem.severity warning
   ,*/

  import cpp

  from FunctionCall fc
  where
    fc.getTarget().getName() = "fprintf"
  select fc, "call of fprintf"

Repeat the submit steps with this query

1. –
2. –

3. Submit the mrva job

     cp ~/work-gh/mrva/mrvacommander/client/qldbtools/scratch/gh-mrva-selection.json \
        ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/gh-mrva-selection.json 
   
     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
     ./gh-mrva submit --language cpp --session mirva-session-1480    \
               --list mirva-list                                     \
               --query ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/Fprintf.ql

4. Check the status

     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
     ./gh-mrva status --session mirva-session-1480

   This time we have results

     ...
     Run name: mirva-session-1480
     Status: succeeded
     Total runs: 1
     Total successful scans: 11
     Total failed scans: 0
     Total skipped repositories: 0
     Total skipped repositories due to access mismatch: 0
     Total skipped repositories due to not found: 0
     Total skipped repositories due to no database: 0
     Total skipped repositories due to over limit: 0
     Total repositories with findings: 7
     Total findings: 618
     Repositories with findings:
       quickfix/quickfixctsjebfd13 (cpp-fprintf-call): 5
       libfuse/libfusectsj7a66a4 (cpp-fprintf-call): 146
       xoreaxeaxeax/movfuscatorctsj8f7e5b (cpp-fprintf-call): 80
       pocoproject/pococtsj26b932 (cpp-fprintf-call): 17
       BoomingTech/Piccoloctsj6d7177 (cpp-fprintf-call): 10
       tdlib/telegram-bot-apictsj8529d9 (cpp-fprintf-call): 247
       WinMerge/winmergectsj101305 (cpp-fprintf-call): 113

5. Download the sarif files, optionally also get databases.

     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/
     # Just download the sarif files
     ./gh-mrva download --session mirva-session-1480 \
               --output-dir mirva-session-1480
   
     # Download the sarif files and CodeQL dbs
     ./gh-mrva download --session mirva-session-1480 \
               --download-dbs \
               --output-dir mirva-session-1480
   
     # And list them:
     \ls -la *1480*
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff    1915857 Aug 16 14:10 BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1.sarif
     drwxr-xr-x@  3 hohn  staff         96 Aug 16 14:15 BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff   89857056 Aug 16 14:11 BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db.zip
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff    3105663 Aug 16 14:10 WinMerge_winmergectsj101305_1.sarif
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff  227812131 Aug 16 14:12 WinMerge_winmergectsj101305_1_db.zip
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff     193976 Aug 16 14:10 libfuse_libfusectsj7a66a4_1.sarif
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff   12930693 Aug 16 14:10 libfuse_libfusectsj7a66a4_1_db.zip
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff    1240694 Aug 16 14:10 pocoproject_pococtsj26b932_1.sarif
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff  158924920 Aug 16 14:12 pocoproject_pococtsj26b932_1_db.zip
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff     888494 Aug 16 14:10 quickfix_quickfixctsjebfd13_1.sarif
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff   75023303 Aug 16 14:11 quickfix_quickfixctsjebfd13_1_db.zip
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff    1487363 Aug 16 14:10 tdlib_telegram-bot-apictsj8529d9_1.sarif
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff  373477635 Aug 16 14:14 tdlib_telegram-bot-apictsj8529d9_1_db.zip
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff     103657 Aug 16 14:10 xoreaxeaxeax_movfuscatorctsj8f7e5b_1.sarif
     -rwxr-xr-x@  1 hohn  staff    9464225 Aug 16 14:10 xoreaxeaxeax_movfuscatorctsj8f7e5b_1_db.zip

6. Use the SARIF Viewer plugin in VS Code to open and review the results.

   Prepare the source directory so the viewer can be pointed at it

     cd ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/mirva-session-1480
   
     unzip -qd BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db.zip 
   
     cd BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db/codeql_db/
     unzip -qd src src.zip

   Use the viewer

     code BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1.sarif
   
     # For lauxlib.c, point the source viewer to 
     find ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/mirva-session-1480/BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db/codeql_db/src/home/runner/work/bulk-builder/bulk-builder -name lauxlib.c
   
     # Here: ~/work-gh/mrva/gh-mrva/mirva-session-1480/BoomingTech_Piccoloctsj6d7177_1_db/codeql_db/src/home/runner/work/bulk-builder/bulk-builder/engine/3rdparty/lua-5.4.4/lauxlib.c

7. (optional) Large result sets are more easily filtered via dataframes or spreadsheets. Convert the SARIF to CSV if needed; see sarif-cli.

Footnotes

¹The csvkit can be installed into the same Python virtual environment as the qldbtools.

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