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Technical guide · Security

Automated OWASP security analysis in Pull Requests

Manually reviewing security on every Pull Request doesn't scale: small teams don't have the time, and large teams don't have enough security specialists to cover every PR. This guide explains what OWASP security analysis applied to Pull Requests means (sometimes called SAST for PR — static application security testing run directly on the diff, before the code reaches the main branch) and why it saves rework.

What the OWASP Top 10 applied to code means

The OWASP Top 10 is a list, maintained by the international OWASP security community (Open Worldwide Application Security Project), of the most critical and recurring vulnerability categories in web applications — things like SQL injection, broken access control, security misconfiguration, and sensitive data exposure. Analyzing a Pull Request “with OWASP in mind” means looking, in the code being added or changed, for patterns that match these known risk categories — before that code becomes part of the product in production.

Why reviewing this before merge saves rework

The earlier a vulnerability is found in the development cycle, the cheaper it is to fix. A security issue identified in the Pull Request costs a change in the PR itself — usually minutes. The same issue discovered after merge, already in production, can cost a security incident, an emergency fix, and in some cases a mandatory notification to affected users (in Brazil, this can involve the LGPD, the country's data protection law). Reviewing security at PR time isn't bureaucracy — it's the cheapest stage in the process to act.

How this fits into the team's review workflow

In practice, this type of analysis works as an additional layer before (or in parallel with) human review:

  • The Pull Request is opened normally, just like it already happens today in the team's workflow.
  • An automated analysis evaluates the diff looking for risk patterns aligned with the OWASP Top 10 categories.
  • Findings are published as comments right in the GitHub review — in the same place where the team already reviews the code, without having to open another tool.
  • The final merge decision is still the team's — the automated analysis provides context and priority, it doesn't replace human judgment.

In Akira, this deeper type of security analysis is available on the Scale plan (full OWASP analysis). Check the current plans and pricing to see which plan includes this feature.