Container Image Vulnerability Scanning Using Grype

TEJAS PATIL — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 09:30:52 +0000

🔐 Container Image Vulnerability Scanning Using Grype

In modern DevOps workflows, container security is no longer optional. Vulnerable container images can introduce serious risks into production environments if they are not scanned properly.

In this post, I’ll show how to use Grype, an open-source vulnerability scanner by Anchore, to scan container images easily and efficiently.

What is Grype?

Grype is a CLI tool for finding known vulnerabilities in container images and filesystems. It works by analyzing installed packages and matching them against multiple vulnerability databases.

Why Grype?
Simple and fast CLI
Works with Docker and private registries
CI/CD friendly
Open source and actively maintained
Great alternative to Trivy

Installing Grype
Linux Installation
curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anchore/grype/main/install.sh | sudo sh -s -- -b /usr/local/bin

Verify Installation
grype version

Scanning a Container Image
Scan a Public Image
grype alpine:latest

This command scans the image and displays vulnerabilities along with their severity and fix status.

Understanding the Output
Grype reports:
Package name
Installed version
Vulnerability ID (CVE)
Severity level
Fixed version (if available)
Example output:
openssl 1.1.1k CVE-2023-0464 High fixed in 1.1.1t

Filtering and Failing on Vulnerabilities
Fail on High or Critical Issues
grype myimage:latest --fail-on high
This is especially useful in CI/CD pipelines to block insecure images.

Show Only Fixable Vulnerabilities
grype myimage:latest --only-fixed

*Generating Reports json *
JSON Report
grype alpine:latest -o json > grype-report.json

Best Practices
Scan images early in the development lifecycle
Use minimal base images like alpine
Fix vulnerabilities before pushing images to production
Combine Grype with SBOM tools such as Syft
Automate scans in CI/CD pipelines

Conclusion

Grype is a powerful yet easy-to-use tool for container image vulnerability scanning. Its simplicity and speed make it a great choice for developers and DevOps engineers who want to improve container security without complex setup.

If you are looking for a clean and reliable alternative to other scanners, Grype is definitely worth trying.

DEV Community: TEJAS PATIL

Container Image Vulnerability Scanning Using Grype