Socket Firewall Overview

Socket Firewall is a suite of security tools that protects your development environment from malicious packages in real time. By intercepting package manager requests and enforcing security policies, Socket Firewall blocks dangerous dependencies before they reach your systems.

What Socket Firewall Does

Socket Firewall acts as an intelligent proxy between your package managers and package registries. When you install dependencies, Socket Firewall:

Intercepts network requests from package managers before packages are downloaded
Checks packages against Socket's security intelligence to identify known and potential malware
Blocks malicious packages at any dependency depth, including transitive dependencies
Socket Firewall Enterprise additionally:
- Enforces your organization's security policies automatically across all installations
- Provides visibility into what packages are being installed across your organization

This approach provides protection at the point of installation, preventing malicious code from ever reaching your filesystem, build systems, or production environments.

Why Use Socket Firewall

Real-time Protection: Unlike scanning tools that analyze code after installation, Socket Firewall prevents malicious packages from being downloaded in the first place. This eliminates the window of vulnerability between installation and detection.

Comprehensive Coverage: Socket Firewall protects against threats in transitive dependencies, not just the packages you explicitly install. Since the majority of your dependency tree consists of indirect dependencies, this comprehensive approach is critical for real security.

Zero-Day Defense: Socket Firewall leverages Socket's AI-powered detection and human review process to identify emerging threats, providing protection against newly published malware before traditional signature-based tools can respond.

Organizational Control: Enforce consistent security policies across all developers, CI/CD pipelines, and build environments without requiring individual configuration or compliance monitoring.

Minimal Disruption: Socket Firewall integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, requiring minimal changes to how developers work while providing maximum protection.

Architecture

Socket Firewall operates as an HTTP/HTTPS proxy server that sits between package managers and package registries. When a package manager attempts to download a package, the request flows through Socket Firewall, which:

Extracts package metadata (name, version, registry) from the request
Queries Socket's security API to check the package against your organization's security policy
Either allows the request to proceed to the registry or blocks it with an informative error message
Returns the package to the package manager (if allowed) or prevents installation (if blocked)

This architecture provides several advantages:

Language-agnostic: Works with any package manager that supports HTTP proxies
No code changes required: Existing projects work without modification
Centralized policy enforcement: Security rules are enforced at the network level
Transparent operation: Package managers function normally, with security applied automatically

Socket Firewall Variants

Socket offers two variants of Socket Firewall to meet different needs.

Socket Firewall Free

Socket Firewall Free is a zero-configuration tool designed for individual developers and small teams. It provides essential protection against known malware with no setup required.

Key Characteristics:

No API key required - works immediately after installation
Zero configuration - no setup files or environment variables needed
Wrapper mode only - run as a command prefix (e.g., sfw npm install)
Core ecosystem support - JavaScript/TypeScript (npm, yarn, pnpm), Python (pip, uv), and Rust (cargo)
Known malware blocking - blocks confirmed malicious packages, warns on AI-detected threats
Public registries only - does not support private or custom registries
Free for all users - no paid plan required

Ideal For:

Individual developers protecting their local machines
Open source projects
Teams getting started with supply chain security
CI/CD pipelines requiring basic malware protection

Socket Firewall Enterprise

Socket Firewall Enterprise is a fully configurable security solution designed for organizations that need comprehensive protection, custom policies, and broad ecosystem support.

Key Characteristics:

Requires API key - integrates with your Socket organization and security policies
Flexible deployment modes:
- Wrapper mode - run as a command prefix, similar to the free version
- Service mode - run as a persistent proxy server for centralized deployment
Comprehensive ecosystem support - JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, Java (Maven, Gradle), Ruby (gem, Bundler), Rust (cargo), and .NET (NuGet)
Configurable security policies - customize how AI-detected malware, unscanned packages, packages with CVEs, and other threats are handled
Private registry support - works with custom and private package registries
Allow-list capabilities - override blocking decisions for specific packages when needed
Dashboard integration - view installation activity and security events in your Socket dashboard
Organizational telemetry controls - configure what usage data is collected
Chained proxy support - integrate with existing corporate proxy infrastructure

Ideal For:

Enterprise organizations with security and compliance requirements
Teams using private package registries
Organizations needing custom security policies
Centralized deployment in Docker, Kubernetes, or on-premise environments
CI/CD pipelines requiring comprehensive ecosystem coverage