How to fix passive scan only on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. BigCommerce does not provide a native staging environment on standard plans; request a sandbox store through BigCommerce Support or use a Partner sandbox account.
2. Populate the sandbox with your current theme (Storefront → Themes → Export from production, then import to sandbox) and realistic product data.
3. Ensure the sandbox store is not indexed and restrict access: Store Setup → Store Settings → there is no built-in password gate, so request your sandbox URL remain unlisted or add basic-auth via a custom Nginx/Cloudflare rule in front of it.
4. Run OWASP ZAP against the sandbox URL: Quick Start → Automated Scan → URL, and configure form-based authentication under Contexts so ZAP can scan authenticated checkout flows.
5. Remediate any High/Critical findings by editing your Stencil theme locally (stencil CLI) or adjusting settings in the control panel, then re-scan.
6. Deploy fixed theme to production via Storefront → Themes → Upload and apply.

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.