feat: hint offline advisory DB workflow for blocked OSV requests (#154)

Author: sonukapoor

src/index.ts

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import { chalk } from "./utils/chalk.js";
 import { createSpinner } from "./output/spinner.js";
 import { buildSuggestedFixCommandPlan } from "./remediation/fix-commands.js";
 import { getCliVersion } from "./utils/version-info.js";
+import { isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError } from "./utils/network.js";
 import type { SuggestedFixCommandPlan, SuggestedFixTarget } from "./remediation/fix-commands.js";
 import type { ParsedOptions } from "./types.js";
 import type { Finding, SeverityLabel } from "./types.js";
@@ -267,7 +268,13 @@ if (parsedArgs) {
   }
 
   main().catch((error) => {
-    console.error(chalk.red(`Error: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error)}`));
+    const errorMessage = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+    console.error(chalk.red(`Error: ${errorMessage}`));
+    if (isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError(errorMessage)) {
+      console.error(chalk.yellow("Hint: Outbound access to the OSV API may be blocked or restricted in this environment."));
+      console.error(chalk.gray("If that is expected, build the advisory DB on a machine with OSV access, then scan here with `--offline` or `--offline-db /path/to/advisories.db`."));
+      console.error(chalk.gray("Command to build the DB on a network-allowed machine: `cve-lite advisories sync --output /path/to/advisories.db`"));
+    }
     process.exit(1);
   });
   }

src/utils/network.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+export function isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError(message: string): boolean {
+  if (!message.includes("OSV")) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const normalized = message.toLowerCase();
+  const finalCause = normalized.split(":").pop()?.trim() ?? normalized;
+  const blockedIndicators = [
+    "access denied",
+    "blocked",
+    "body timeout",
+    "connection refused",
+    "eai_again",
+    "econnrefused",
+    "econnreset",
+    "enotfound",
+    "etimedout",
+    "fetch failed",
+    "forbidden",
+    "gateway timeout",
+    "host unreachable",
+    "network unavailable",
+    "proxy",
+    "socket hang up",
+    "timed out",
+    "timeout",
+    "tunneling socket",
+    "unable to verify the first certificate",
+  ];
+
+  if (blockedIndicators.some(indicator => finalCause.includes(indicator))) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  return /^(401|403|407|408|429|451|502|503|504)\b/.test(finalCause);
+}

tests/cli-integration.test.ts

@@ -322,6 +322,24 @@ describe("CLI integration", () => {
     expect(loadPackagesMock).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it("prints an offline advisory DB hint when OSV requests appear blocked", async () => {
+    loadPackagesMock.mockReturnValue(createScanInput({
+      packages: [{ name: "lodash", version: "4.17.21", ecosystem: "npm", paths: [["project", "lodash"]] }],
+    }));
+    scanPackagesMock.mockRejectedValue(
+      new Error("OSV batch query failed for https://api.osv.dev: fetch failed"),
+    );
+
+    const result = await runIndexModule();
+    const stderr = stripAnsi(result.stderr.join("\n"));
+
+    expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
+    expect(stderr).toContain("Error: OSV batch query failed for https://api.osv.dev: fetch failed");
+    expect(stderr).toContain("Hint: Outbound access to the OSV API may be blocked or restricted in this environment.");
+    expect(stderr).toContain("build the advisory DB on a machine with OSV access");
+    expect(stderr).toContain("cve-lite advisories sync --output /path/to/advisories.db");
+  });
+
   it("routes verbose mode through the detailed printer pipeline", async () => {
     const finding = createFinding({ severity: "medium" });
     parseArgsMock.mockReturnValue({

tests/network.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import { isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError } from "../src/utils/network.js";
+
+describe("isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError", () => {
+  it("returns true for OSV failures that look like blocked or restricted network access", () => {
+    expect(
+      isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError(
+        "OSV batch query failed for https://api.osv.dev: fetch failed",
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
+
+    expect(
+      isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError(
+        "OSV batch query failed for https://api.osv.dev: OSV batch query failed: 403 Forbidden",
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for non-OSV errors", () => {
+    expect(isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError("Invalid value for --osv-url: not-a-url")).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it("returns false for OSV errors that do not look like blocked network access", () => {
+    expect(
+      isLikelyBlockedAdvisoryRequestError(
+        "OSV vuln fetch failed for OSV-404 via https://api.osv.dev: OSV vuln fetch failed for OSV-404: 404 Not Found",
+      ),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});