Managing Panther Content via GitHub Actions

Manage detections and schemas in Panther with a CI/CD workflow using GitHub Actions

Overview

You can configure GitHub Actions to automate testing, customize detections, and upload your detection pipeline from your GitHub repository to your Panther Console. This guide will walk you through the following:

Creating a custom workflow via GitHub Actions
Testing your custom schemas and detections
Uploading the schemas and detections to your Panther Console
Customizing your GitHub Actions workflow to fit your organization's needs

See CI/CD for Panther Content for information on starting your CI/CD workflow with Panther.

Prerequisites

To get started with managing your Panther detections and schemas using GitHub Actions, you will need:

A Panther API Token
- See these instructions on generating an API token, and ensure it has the correct permissions for each command.
- You will pass this API token as an argument to the panther_analysis_tool command for operations such as uploading/deleting detections, custom schemas, saved queries, and more. See this section for usage examples.
Your Panther API Host Name
- Your Panther API hostname will look like this: https://api.<your-panther-instance-name>.runpanther.net/public/graphql
Your Panther API Token added as a GitHub secret under the name API_TOKEN
- To add the token to Secrets, follow GitHub's documentation: Creating encrypted secrets for a repository. This secret is shown later in this document as secrets.API_TOKEN.

This guide explains how to upload to your Panther Console via GitHub Actions using Panther API keys and Github secrets. This is the recommended method if you are using GitHub Actions. You can also upload to your Panther Console directly via the panther_analysis_tool. For more information, see Panther Analysis Tool.

Configure GitHub Actions for Panther

Step 1: Make use of the Panther-managed detections in the panther-analysis GitHub repo

Follow the documentation to make use of Panther-managed detections in the panther-analysis GitHub repo: Using the Panther detections repo.

Step 2: Create a new GitHub workflow

Navigate to the GitHub repository where you would like to set up automation.
Within the GitHub repository, navigate to Actions.
Click New Workflow.
Click Set up a workflow yourself →.
On the next page, replace the default filename (main.yml) with a descriptive name, e.g., panther-workflow.yml.

Step 3: Build a workflow to test detections and upload data

Add the following code to the YAML file:

GitHub workflow YAML

name: Panther Analysis CI/CD workflow

permissions:
  contents: read

on:  
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs: 
  run_unit_tests:    
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Run unit tests on detections using the panther_analysis_tool
    steps:
      - name: Check out the repo
        uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 #v4.1.6
      
      - name: Set python version  
        uses: actions/setup-python@82c7e631bb3cdc910f68e0081d67478d79c6982d #v5.1.0
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'
      
      - name: Install pipenv
        run: pip install pipenv
      
      - name: Install python dependencies and panther_analysis_tool
        run: make venv
      
      - name: Run unit tests for all detections
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool test
      
  panther_analysis_tool_upload:        
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Upload detections to panther console using panther_analysis_tool
    needs: [run_unit_tests]
    env:
      PANTHER_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.API_TOKEN }}
      PANTHER_API_HOST: "https://api.<your-panther>.runpanther.net/public/graphql"
    steps:
      - name: Checkout the repo
        uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 #v4.1.6
      
      - name: Set python version  
        uses: actions/setup-python@82c7e631bb3cdc910f68e0081d67478d79c6982d #v5.1.0
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'
      
      - name: Install pipenv
        run: pip install pipenv
      
      - name: Install python dependencies and panther_analysis_tool
        run: make venv
      
      - name: Upload detections to your Panther instance
        # (Optional) Add `--filter Enabled=true` to command below to only upload Enabled detections
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool upload --skip-tests

Make sure to update the values of the following environment variable:
- PANTHER_API_HOST on line 39: Replace <your-panther> with your Panther instance's public GraphQL URL.
This workflow assumes you have added your Panther API token as a GitHub secret under the name API_TOKEN. If you have not already done this, follow the instructions within Prerequisites.
If you'd like this workflow to only trigger on updates to content within certain folders, you can add paths within on.push. Learn more about paths in GitHub's documentation.

This will run the tests you have created on your detections and then upload all your Panther content (Lookup Tables, Data Models, and detections) if they passed.

Step 4: Push changes

Run git push.

After the Github Actions workflow is complete, the following will occur the next time you use git push to make changes to the folders in the paths section of the workflow:

Custom detections are tested with panther_analysis_tool.
Upon success, detections are uploaded to your Panther Console.

Panther-provided GitHub workflows

The panther-analysis workflows directory contains a number of ready-to-use GitHub workflows that you can use once you clone or fork the repository.

Workflows with names that include "(Internal)" (e.g., "Pre-Release Upload to GA (Internal)"), are not intended for customer use. Attempting to run these in your own repository may have unexpected consequences.

The workflows below are configured to trigger when a new pull request (PR) is created:

Lint: ensures your code is properly formatted and has no obvious security flaws.
Check MITRE ATT&CK Mapping Format: confirms that the format of the MITRE mappings in your detections is valid.
Test: runs all unit tests for detections and global helpers using panther_analysis_tool test.
Validate: validates content against the Panther backend, including verifying the existence of custom log types and data lake table names (used in queries), with panther_analysis_tool validate.
- Validate only runs after a PR is approved. This is because it requires making a long-running API request to Panther, and therefore isn't well suited to being run multiple times per PR.
Build Docker Image (Deprecated): builds a new docker container for future workflows to run within.

The following workflows are triggered outside of PRs:

Sync Panther Analysis from Upstream: opens a new PR in your repository to add the most recent changes from the panther-analysis upstream repository. Use this workflow to sync your cloned or forked repository with updates to Panther-managed content.
- This workflow runs at 15:00 UTC every Wednesday, and can also be triggered manually.
Upload: uploads the full content of your repository to your Panther instance using panther_analysis_tool upload.
- The Upload workflow triggers must be configured by you. It is recommended to configure this workflow to run whenever a PR is merged to main, but your needs may differ.

Optional: Build a workflow for custom schemas

If you are building custom schemas, use the following YAML code to include the schemas in your workflow:

GitHub workflow YAML with schemas

name: Panther Analysis CI/CD workflow

permissions:
  contents: read

on:  
  push:
    branches:
      - main
    paths:
      - 'schemas/**'

jobs: 
  download_pantherlog_tool:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Download the pantherlog tool to use for schema tests
    steps: 
      - name: Download pantherlog & unzip 
        run: curl -sSO "https://panther-community-us-east-1.s3.amazonaws.com/latest/tools/linux-amd64-pantherlog.zip" && unzip linux-amd64-pantherlog.zip
      
      - name: Create a pantherlog artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@65462800fd760344b1a7b4382951275a0abb4808 #v4.3.3
        with:
          name: pantherlog
          path: pantherlog
          retention-days: 1
  
  run_schema_tests:    
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Run schema tests with pantherlog
    needs: [download_pantherlog_tool]
    steps:
      - name: Check out the repo
        uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 #v4.1.6

      - name: Download Pantherlog tool from artifacts
        uses: actions/download-artifact@65a9edc5881444af0b9093a5e628f2fe47ea3b2e #v4.1.7
        with: 
          name: pantherlog
      - name: Make pantherlog executable
        run: sudo chmod +x pantherlog

      - name: Perform schema tests with pantherlog
        run: ./pantherlog test ./schemas
  
  run_unit_tests:    
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Run unit tests on detections using the panther_analysis_tool
    steps:
      - name: Check out the repo
        uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 #v4.1.6
      
      - name: Set python version  
        uses: actions/setup-python@82c7e631bb3cdc910f68e0081d67478d79c6982d #v5.1.0
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'
      
      - name: Install pipenv
        run: pip install pipenv
      
      - name: Install python dependencies and panther_analysis_tool
        run: make venv
      
      - name: Run unit tests for all rule detections
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool test --filter AnalysisType=rule
      
      - name: Run unit tests for all scheduled rule detections
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool test --filter AnalysisType=scheduled_rule
      
      - name: Run unit tests for all policy detections
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool test --filter AnalysisType=policy
  
  panther_analysis_tool_upload:        
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    name: Upload detections to panther console using panther_analysis_tool
    needs: [download_pantherlog_tool, run_schema_tests, run_unit_tests]
    env:
      PANTHER_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.API_TOKEN }}
      PANTHER_API_HOST: "https://api.<your-panther>.runpanther.net/public/graphql"
    steps:
      - name: Checkout the repo
        uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 #v4.1.6
      
      - name: Set python version  
        uses: actions/setup-python@82c7e631bb3cdc910f68e0081d67478d79c6982d #v5.1.0
        with:
          python-version: '3.11'

      - name: Install pipenv
        run: pip install pipenv

      - name: Install python dependencies and panther_analysis_tool
        run: make venv
      
      - name: Upload detections to your Panther instance
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool upload --batch --skip-tests
      
      - name: Upload custom schemas to your Panther Instance
        run: pipenv run panther_analysis_tool update-custom-schemas --path schemas/

Make sure to update the values of the following environment variable:
- PANTHER_API_HOST on line 79: Replace <your-panther> with your Panther instance's public GraphQL URL.
This workflow assumes your schemas are stored in a /schemas directory. If they are stored elsewhere, be sure to update the location on lines 11 , 44, and 99.
This workflow assumes you have added your Panther API token as a GitHub secret under the name API_TOKEN. If you have not already done this, follow the instructions within Prerequisites.

Push changes

Run git push.

Now, the following will occur the next time you use git push to make changes to the folders in the paths section of the workflow:

Custom log schemas are tested with pantherlog.
Custom detections are tested with panther_analysis_tool.
Upon success, schemas and detections are uploaded to your Panther Console.

Optional: Customize your GitHub workflows in Panther

Optionally, you can extend or customize this workflow to better fit your organization. The following are common workflow customizations with Panther:

Perform linting against .py files
Trigger from an approved PR instead of a Push to a specific folder.
If you fork the panther-analysis repository by the latest tag, learn how syncing a fork can help keep Panther detections up-to-date. We recommend syncing weekly by tag.

For more information on GitHub workflows, please see GitHub's documentation.

Optional: Use Dependabot

Dependabot is a commonly used integration in GitHub that continually audits a repository's dependencies for security risks and available updates. Panther manages the upstream runtime environment (i.e., panther-analysis), however, you can use Dependabot for an added layer of security. To set up Dependabot for your Panther respository, follow the GitHub Dependabot quickstart guide.

Dependabot can open PRs to update your dependencies. Dependabot cannot, however, access your repository's secrets. This means that GitHub workflows that require API secrets (such as the test workflow) will fail for PRs opened by Dependabot.

To work around this, follow the GitHub instructions for storing a separate set of repository secrets specifically for Dependabot. Using this method, you must add API_HOST and API_TOKEN as secrets.

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