Secure Your JavaScript Project with 'npm audit'!
Tags: javascript, npm, security, beginners
Published: 2023-08-02 22:13:11

---
title: "Secure Your JavaScript Project with 'npm audit'!"
published: true
description: "This post explains how to use the npm audit command to check and fix security vulnerabilities in your JavaScript project."
tags: javascript, npm, security, beginners
---

## Table of Contents

1. [Introduction](#Introduction)
2. [What is npm audit](#What-is-npm-audit)
3. [How to use npm audit](#How-to-use-npm-audit)
4. [Details of npm audit](#Details-of-npm-audit)
5. [Fixing vulnerabilities with npm audit](#Fixing-vulnerabilities-with-npm-audit)
6. [Conclusion](#Conclusion)

## Introduction

Hello everyone. Today, I will explain how to check the security of a JavaScript project. Many of you may be using Node Package Manager (npm) to manage your JavaScript projects. npm has a useful feature for checking security: 'npm audit'.

## What is npm audit

'npm audit' is a command of npm, used to check security vulnerabilities in the dependencies used in your JavaScript project.

## How to use npm audit

Using npm audit is simple. First, navigate to the root directory of your project.

```bash
cd /path/to/your/project
```

Then, run the following command.

```bash
npm audit
```

Just by doing this, the security vulnerabilities of the project's dependencies are scanned, and a detailed report is displayed if any problems are detected.

## Details of npm audit

The 'npm audit' report contains the following information.

- Level of security vulnerability (low, moderate, high)
- Details of the vulnerability
- The package affected
- Methods of correction (if possible)

## Fixing vulnerabilities with npm audit

When 'npm audit' detects vulnerabilities, recommended steps to resolve them are listed in the report.

For instance, if a moderate vulnerability is shown for the 'express' package, a report like this will be displayed.

```bash
=== npm audit security report ===                        
                                                                                 
# Run  npm update express --depth 1  to resolve 1 vulnerability
┌───────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Moderate      │ Path Traversal                                                │
├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Package       │ express                                                       │
├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Dependency of │ express                                                       │
├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Path          │ express                                                       │
├───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ More info     │ https://npmjs.com/advisories/XYZ                              │
└───────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

This report indicates that there is a moderate vulnerability (Path Traversal) in the 'express' package and that you need to update the package to correct it.

To address this, run the following command.

```bash
npm update express --depth 1
```

This will update the express package to the latest version and fix the vulnerability.

## Conclusion

'npm audit' is a powerful tool to check and fix the security vulnerabilities of a JavaScript project. Run 'npm audit' regularly to check for vulnerabilities in your project. Security is an important element, and neglecting it can lead to major problems.

I hope this article will be useful for your projects. Thank you for reading!