Flawfinder vs Security Code Scan
Flawfinder
dwheeler.comSecurity Code Scan
security-code-scan.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Flawfinder | Security Code Scan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · SAST Tools | 8.1 (#9) | 7.4 (#19) |
| Integrations | The site describes CSV output as useful for integrating with other tools and also offers SARIF output in JSON format. | The site lists GitHub and GitLab pipeline support, plus MSBuild and a stand-alone runner for custom integrations. |
| License | Flawfinder is released under GNU General Public License version 2 or later, with SPDX expression GPL-2.0+. | The project repository identifies its license as LGPL-3.0. |
| Purpose | Flawfinder examines C/C++ source code and reports possible security weaknesses sorted by risk level. | Security Code Scan is a static code analyzer for .NET that detects vulnerability patterns in C# and VB.NET. |
| Support | The project directs general questions to its mailing list and specific bugs or feature requests to git or the issue tracker on SourceForge. | The maker provides a troubleshooting guide and directs users to project issues and contributions on GitHub. |
Plans
In their own words
Flawfinder
Flawfinder is a free tool for finding possible security weaknesses in C and C++ source code. It compares source text with a built-in database of functions associated with security problems, generally disregarding comments and strings except for Flawfinder directives. Findings are ordered by risk, which depends on the function and its parameter values; the tool may reduce some false positives when it identifies a construct as not risky. Reports can be generated as text, HTML, CSV, or SARIF. The --patch option narrows findings to changed lines in a unified diff, with a one-line margin. Installation is documented through pip, source downloads, and distribution packages, and the tool requires Python 2.7 or Python 3. The project says it works on Unix-like systems, including GNU/Linux, and on Windows with Cygwin; direct Windows use has also been reported to work. Flawfinder is released under GPL-2.0+. It does not perform control-flow or data-flow analysis, so its output is an aid to review rather than a substitute for security knowledge or human judgment.
Security Code Scan
Security Code Scan is a free, open-source static analyzer for .NET projects written in C# and VB.NET. It detects vulnerability patterns such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, CSRF, and XML external entity injection, using inter-procedural taint analysis to follow input data. Projects can be analyzed in the background through IntelliSense or during a build. For delivery workflows, it supports GitHub and GitLab pipelines, MSBuild, and a stand-alone runner; custom integrations can emit SARIF results and place warnings alongside other build messages. Users can define taint sources, sinks, sanitizers, validators, and project-specific settings. The analyzer supports Visual Studio 2019 or higher, while the project says other Roslyn analyzer editors such as Rider or OmniSharp should work. Releases are available as a NuGet package, Visual Studio extension, and stand-alone runner for Windows and Linux. The maker warns that the extension or NuGet package can slow the IDE and recommends CI/CD pipelines as the more common use case. Audit mode is off by default. The repository identifies an LGPL-3.0 license.