Every security team wants to stop vulnerabilities before they reach the pipeline – and with AI coding assistants transforming development, that goal is closer to reality than ever before. 

At Checkmarx, that vision has guided our work for years. And Agentic AI is our latest breakthrough. 

The Path to Autonomous Remediation 

The journey to agentic AI didn’t happen overnight.   It’s built on the following AppSec solutions that paved the way for this breakthrough: 

Real-Time IDE Scanning: In 2024, we introduced real-time IDE scanning. The idea: catch vulnerabilities while developers were actively writing code. This solution aimed to shift security left to where it matters most. 

AI Security Champion with Auto-Remediation: Next, we launched the AI Security Champion, which brought auto-remediation directly to SAST findings. This allowed developers to fix issues faster, with less manual work. 

All leading to our latest solution, Agentic AI. Checkmarx One Developer Assist moves away from automatic remediation to autonomous remediation. Powered by Agentic AI, it doesn’t just suggest fixes – it plans, executes, and validates them, ultimately delivering production-ready code. 

The result? Security expertise combined with cutting-edge AI that can autonomously fix vulnerabilities, refine code, and empower developers to build new features faster.  

What Makes Agentic AI Different? 

Here’s what autonomous SAST remediation looks like in action: 

Real-Time Feedback as You Code 
Our real-time IDE scanning already catches vulnerabilities instantly, but Developer Assist builds on that foundation with immediate, contextual feedback right where you work. Whether you’re writing code yourself or using an AI coding assistant, vulnerabilities get highlighted with their risk levels clearly marked. Developers can decide how to respond on the spot. 

• While this blog focuses on SAST, it’s worth giving a shout-out to a critical SCA capability as well: Safe Refactor. As mentioned in our recent blog, “When a vulnerable or malicious package is detected, the developer can launch agentic-AI Safe Refactor capabilities that automatically generate code changes directly within the IDE, complete with step-by-step explanations that developers can review and approve before implementation.” It points out that “Safe Refactor first attempts to replace a dangerous package with a safe version of the same package. In cases where no safer version exists, Safe Refactor leverages the developer’s generative AI tools (e.g., Cursor or Co-Pilot) to suggest alternative packages with similar functionality, ensuring developers aren’t blocked, without a path forward.” 
   

Context That Actually Helps 

Developers don’t need another wall of cryptic error messages; they need clarity and context. Agentic AI changes the game by turning static scan results into actionable insights that developers can immediately understand and use. Instead of endless triage, they get answers that drive confident, secure coding decisions right where they work- in the IDE.

• What makes this code vulnerable? Clear explanations.
  Agentic AI goes beyond flagging issues and explains why a piece of code is risky. Developers can instantly see which lines introduce a vulnerability, what pattern caused it, and how it could be exploited. By surfacing the root cause instead of just the symptom, Agentic AI helps teams learn from every fix instead of repeating the same mistakes.

• Why does this matter? Real security implications and risks.
  Understanding vulnerabilities in context means understanding their real-world impact. Agentic AI provides plain-language explanations of potential risks, from data exposure to injection attacks, helping developers see the security implications behind every coding choice. It bridges the gap between development speed and AppSec priorities, ensuring teams can act fast and stay secure.

• How should I fix it? Best practices and remediation recommendations.
  Every issue comes with best-practice remediation guidance tailored to the framework, language, and context. Whether it’s suggesting safer APIs, updating dependencies, or improving validation logic, Agentic AI provides the how so developers can fix vulnerabilities the right way, not just the fastest way.

• Can AI do this for me? Flexibility to fix manually or let agentic AI handle it.
  Sometimes developers want to fix it themselves. Sometimes, they just want it done. Agentic AI gives teams both options with manual control or autonomous remediation. It can automatically apply verified fixes, validate the change across syntax, build, functionality, and security, and deliver production-ready code. The result is less chasing, fewer vulnerabilities, and more time to innovate.
   

One-Click Autonomous Remediation 

Our AI Security Champion introduced auto-remediation and Agentic AI advances it to full autonomy. One click launches an intelligent, multi-phase process: 
 
Phase 1: Strategic Planning 
The agent connects to Checkmarx’ MCP (Model Context Protocol) server and retrieves vulnerability-specific remediation instructions. These aren’t generic suggestions; they’re precise guidelines tailored to the issue you’re dealing with. 
 
Phase 2: Intelligent Implementation 
The agent implements the fix while following strict remediation protocols. Only modifying what’s needed to fix the vulnerability, preserving functionality, and unnecessary changes. No scope creep. 
 
Phase 3: Comprehensive Verification  
Here’s the critical part. Developer Assist validates its own work through multiple checks: syntax verification, build validation, functional testing, and security confirmation – all to confirm that the vulnerability is eliminated. 

If any check fails, the agent recognizes it and adjusts, resulting in production-ready fixes, not just code suggestions. 

See it in Action

Watch how a high-severity deserialization vulnerability gets identified, explained, autonomously remediated, and verified – all within the developer’s workflow. No context switching, no friction. 

Picture a developer pushing a feature branch minutes before a release freeze. Normally that high-risk deserialization issue would trigger a ticket, a review, and a multi-day delay. But with Agentic AI running inside the IDE, that vulnerability is detected, fixed and validated before the commit even lands. The build stays green, the release stays on schedule, and nobody had to work through the weekend! 

Developer Control Stays Where It Belongs

Autonomous doesn’t mean you lose control. After remediation wraps up, developers get everything they need to make informed decisions. 

A complete summary in the IDE shows which files were modified and what was changed – what was removed and added, with a clear visual differentiation. Final status confirms everything passed and was successfully remediated. 

AI handles the heavy lifting, but developers remain the final authority on what gets pushed to production. 

Why This Is a Breakthrough

Agentic AI takes everything we’ve built – real-time scanning and auto-remediation – and takes it one step further.  

Real-time IDE scanning instantly catches vulnerabilities, and auto-remediation helps fix them. But now we have added Agentic AI which can handle everything – the planning, implementation, and validation without any manual intervention. 

Agentic AI goes beyond suggesting fixes, it automatically implements them, validates each change for syntax, build integrity, functionality, and security, and delivers production-ready code. It’s a meaningful step forward. In addition, the AI agent retrieves precise remediation instructions from Checkmarx’ MCP server, tailored to each vulnerability type. There are not generic patterns and contextual guidance is based on our security knowledge base. This specificity matters when you’re dealing with complex vulnerabilities. 

With this foundation, your team can address security findings at the speed of discovery. Each fix is automatically verified for quality and correctness, ensuring that faster doesn’t mean riskier – you get both speed and reliability. 

And throughout the whole process, developers retain complete control. They can review, adjust, or approve changes with full visibility into what the AI did and why. The human isn’t removed from the loop, we just made the loop more efficient. 

Autonomous Remediation Isn’t the Future – It’s Now

We’ve been working toward this reality for years. From real-time IDE scanning to AI-powered auto-remediation, and now to fully autonomous Agentic AI. Each step building on the last. 

This vision is taking shape with Developer Assist – autonomous, AI-driven remediation with validated, production-ready security fixes that integrate seamlessly into your workflow. It’s not about replacing developers; it’s about giving them better tools to work faster and more securely (and at the same time!).  

See it in Your Environment

Book a demo to explore how Agentic AI builds on Checkmarx’ already proven capabilities.