Enhancing Java Application Security: A Deep Dive into the Maven Dependency Plugin’s Top 20 Vulnerability Finds

Adam Anderson
5 min readOct 9, 2023
Photo by Logan Moreno Gutierrez on Unsplash

In the world of Java development, ensuring the security of your applications is paramount. One critical aspect of this is managing the dependencies your project relies on. The Maven Dependency Plugin is a valuable tool that helps you uncover vulnerabilities within your Java application’s dependencies. In this article, we’ll explore the top 20 vulnerabilities that the Maven Dependency Plugin can find, presented in descending order of significance.

Adding the Maven Dependency Plugin to your pom.xml:

To leverage the Maven Dependency Plugin for vulnerability checks in your Java project, you need to include it in your pom.xml file. Below is an example of how you can configure the plugin:

<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.2.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>analyze</id>
<phase>compile</phase>
<goals>
<goal>analyze-only</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>…

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Adam Anderson

Detail oriented reader, lifelong learner, and technologist driving change one cause at a time