diff --git a/cmd/syft/cli/attest/attest.go b/cmd/syft/cli/attest/attest.go
index 1d0dddf1c1c..758af670635 100644
--- a/cmd/syft/cli/attest/attest.go
+++ b/cmd/syft/cli/attest/attest.go
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ func buildSBOM(app *config.Application, userInput string, errs chan error) (*sbo
 				Paths: app.Exclusions,
 			},
 			DigestAlgorithms: hashers,
+			BasePath:         app.BasePath,
 		},
 	)
 
diff --git a/cmd/syft/cli/options/packages.go b/cmd/syft/cli/options/packages.go
index bea013b6922..259a787811c 100644
--- a/cmd/syft/cli/options/packages.go
+++ b/cmd/syft/cli/options/packages.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ type PackagesOptions struct {
 	Catalogers         []string
 	SourceName         string
 	SourceVersion      string
+	BasePath           string
 }
 
 var _ Interface = (*PackagesOptions)(nil)
@@ -59,6 +60,9 @@ func (o *PackagesOptions) AddFlags(cmd *cobra.Command, v *viper.Viper) error {
 	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&o.SourceVersion, "source-version", "", "",
 		"set the name of the target being analyzed")
 
+	cmd.Flags().StringVarP(&o.BasePath, "base-path", "", "",
+		"base directory for scanning, no links will be followed above this directory, and all paths will be reported relative to this directory")
+
 	return bindPackageConfigOptions(cmd.Flags(), v)
 }
 
@@ -106,5 +110,9 @@ func bindPackageConfigOptions(flags *pflag.FlagSet, v *viper.Viper) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if err := v.BindPFlag("base-path", flags.Lookup("base-path")); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/syft/cli/packages/packages.go b/cmd/syft/cli/packages/packages.go
index a84b3c09af1..a7c1d5521dc 100644
--- a/cmd/syft/cli/packages/packages.go
+++ b/cmd/syft/cli/packages/packages.go
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ func execWorker(app *config.Application, userInput string, writer sbom.Writer) <
 					Paths: app.Exclusions,
 				},
 				DigestAlgorithms: hashers,
+				BasePath:         app.BasePath,
 			},
 		)
 
diff --git a/cmd/syft/cli/poweruser/poweruser.go b/cmd/syft/cli/poweruser/poweruser.go
index e9a251f3e26..cfc10e1bcc1 100644
--- a/cmd/syft/cli/poweruser/poweruser.go
+++ b/cmd/syft/cli/poweruser/poweruser.go
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ func execWorker(app *config.Application, userInput string, writer sbom.Writer) <
 					Paths: app.Exclusions,
 				},
 				DigestAlgorithms: nil,
+				BasePath:         app.BasePath,
 			},
 		)
 
diff --git a/internal/config/application.go b/internal/config/application.go
index ea85410025f..e7c726134d8 100644
--- a/internal/config/application.go
+++ b/internal/config/application.go
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ type Application struct {
 	Source                 sourceCfg          `yaml:"source" json:"source" mapstructure:"source"`
 	Parallelism            int                `yaml:"parallelism" json:"parallelism" mapstructure:"parallelism"`                                           // the number of catalog workers to run in parallel
 	DefaultImagePullSource string             `yaml:"default-image-pull-source" json:"default-image-pull-source" mapstructure:"default-image-pull-source"` // specify default image pull source
+	BasePath               string             `yaml:"base-path" json:"base-path" mapstructure:"base-path"`                                                 // specify base path for all file paths
 }
 
 func (cfg Application) ToCatalogerConfig() cataloger.Config {
diff --git a/syft/source/detection.go b/syft/source/detection.go
index 3d301f14da5..f96dc0023f5 100644
--- a/syft/source/detection.go
+++ b/syft/source/detection.go
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ type DetectionSourceConfig struct {
 	Platform         *image.Platform
 	Exclude          ExcludeConfig
 	DigestAlgorithms []crypto.Hash
+	BasePath         string
 }
 
 func DefaultDetectionSourceConfig() DetectionSourceConfig {
@@ -117,10 +118,14 @@ func (d Detection) NewSource(cfg DetectionSourceConfig) (Source, error) {
 			},
 		)
 	case directoryType:
+		base := cfg.BasePath
+		if base == "" {
+			base = d.location
+		}
 		src, err = NewFromDirectory(
 			DirectoryConfig{
 				Path:    d.location,
-				Base:    d.location,
+				Base:    base,
 				Exclude: cfg.Exclude,
 				Alias:   cfg.Alias,
 			},