How to fix passive scan only on Adobe Commerce (Magento)

Steps for Adobe Commerce (Magento)

1. Adobe Commerce has native staging built in (Content → Staging & Preview on Commerce Cloud) — clone your environment using the CLI: 'magento-cloud environment:branch staging main'.
2. On Magento Open Source, set up a staging server by cloning the codebase and database to a separate vhost or subdomain, then restrict access with .htaccess Basic Auth or an IP allowlist.
3. Set the staging base URL: Stores → Configuration → General → Web → Base URLs → update to the staging domain.
4. Run OWASP ZAP: Automated Scan → enter staging URL, configure script-based or form-based authentication under Contexts to reach the Magento admin panel and customer account areas.
5. Review ZAP's Active Scan results; common Magento findings include exposed /admin path (change via Stores → Config → Advanced → Admin → Admin Base URL), outdated extensions, and session misconfigurations.
6. Apply fixes (extension updates via Composer, config hardening via app/etc/env.php or admin panel), re-scan, then deploy to production with 'magento-cloud environment:merge' or your CI/CD pipeline.

What is passive scan only?

Passive security scans — like the checks run on your HTTP headers, TLS certificate, cookies, and email DNS records — are a great first step, but they can only see what your store broadcasts to any visitor. They cannot test whether your login form is vulnerable to brute-force attacks, whether your checkout accepts malicious input, or whether an authenticated user can access another customer's data. Active security testing (called DAST — Dynamic Application Security Testing) actually interacts with your live or staging site the way a real attacker would, probing for those deeper vulnerabilities. Tools like OWASP ZAP (free) or commercial equivalents send crafted requests to your store and report weaknesses that a passive scan will never find.

A security breach on an ecommerce store can expose customer payment data, personal information, and order history — leading to regulatory fines (GDPR, PCI DSS), chargebacks, loss of payment processor access, and permanent damage to customer trust. Many of the most damaging attack types — SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), broken authentication, insecure direct object references — are invisible to passive scanning but are caught routinely by DAST tools. Running active tests before each release means you find and fix vulnerabilities before attackers do, protecting your revenue, your customers, and your brand reputation. Skipping this step is one of the top reasons stores appear in breach reports despite having "green" passive security scores.

See the complete Passive scan only guide for every platform and the full background.