How to Scan Files, Set Custom File Upload Restrictions in Go

Scanning files for viruses and malware is a top priority for any website implementing client-side file upload processes. It doesn’t end there, however. Other security measures — such as blocking common hidden threat types and restricting file uploads — are equally important to keep your applications safe.

Thankfully, using the ready-to-run Golang code examples below, you can scan files for millions of virus and malware signatures, block common hidden threat types, and set custom restrictions against unwanted file types with a comma-separated list of file extensions (such as “.pdf, .docx, .xlsx”) — all in a single API request. This solution is free to use with a free-tier Cloudmersive API key, and you can get set up in minutes.

Simply copy the following code to structure your API call:

package main

import (
     "fmt"
     "bytes"
     "mime/multipart"
     "os"
     "path/filepath"
     "io"
     "net/http"
     "io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

     url := "https://api.cloudmersive.com/virus/scan/file/advanced"
     method := "POST"

     payload := &bytes.Buffer{}
     writer := multipart.NewWriter(payload)
     file, errFile1 := os.Open("/path/to/file")
     defer file.Close()
     part1,
         errFile1 := writer.CreateFormFile("inputFile",filepath.Base("/path/to/file"))
     _, errFile1 = io.Copy(part1, file)
     if errFile1 != nil {
          fmt.Println(errFile1)
          return
     }
     err := writer.Close()
     if err != nil {
          fmt.Println(err)
          return
     }


     client := &http.Client {
     }
     req, err := http.NewRequest(method, url, payload)

     if err != nil {
          fmt.Println(err)
          return
     }
     req.Header.Add("allowExecutables", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowInvalidFiles", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowScripts", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowPasswordProtectedFiles", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowMacros", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowXmlExternalEntities", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowInsecureDeserialization", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("allowHtml", "<boolean>")
     req.Header.Add("restrictFileTypes", "<string>")
     req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "multipart/form-data")
     req.Header.Add("Apikey", "YOUR-API-KEY-HERE")

     req.Header.Set("Content-Type", writer.FormDataContentType())
     res, err := client.Do(req)
     if err != nil {
          fmt.Println(err)
          return
     }
     defer res.Body.Close()

     body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)
     if err != nil {
          fmt.Println(err)
          return
     }
     fmt.Println(string(body))
}

Provide your file extension whitelist in the “restrictFileTypes” parameter, and then customize any addiitonal content threat rules to your liking. Easy!