Prowler

What is it?

Prowler is an open-source cloud security scanner supporting AWS, Azure, GCP, and Kubernetes. It executes security checks across all regions and services using provided credentials, producing pass/fail results for each check.

The platform is available in three forms:

  • CLI: Free, open-source command-line tool
  • Self-hosted web UI: Free, open-source web interface
  • SaaS platform: Hosted version with managed infrastructure

The entire codebase is open source, including AI-powered features (Prowler Lighthouse).

Why did they build it?

The founder needed to assess 30 AWS accounts and found existing tools inadequate. Prowler was built to automate security configuration checks using the AWS CLI, starting with CIS AWS Security Benchmark requirements.

Commercial cloud security platforms are closed-source. Users cannot inspect what checks are being executed or verify detection logic. Procurement cycles are lengthy. When new cloud services launch, commercial platforms may take months to add coverage.

Prowler’s open-source model enables community contribution. Approximately 300 contributors add checks as new services and misconfigurations are discovered. The project maintainer uses check development as a method for learning new cloud services, understanding security requirements by implementing detection for them.

How does Prowler map technical findings to compliance requirements?

Prowler maintains mappings between technical security checks and compliance framework requirements. The same underlying check can satisfy multiple compliance requirements across different frameworks.

Prowler Hub (hub.prowler.com) documents every check with full metadata: what the check does, the code implementing it, and which compliance requirements it satisfies. Users can learn cloud security concepts by examining check implementations.

How does Prowler Lighthouse (AI) function?

Prowler Lighthouse is an AI assistant integrated into the platform. It answers natural language questions about cloud security posture and generates preventive controls.

Users can request guardrails in multiple formats: Service Control Policies (SCPs), Terraform templates, or CloudFormation templates. These templates prevent the misconfigurations that Prowler detects.

The AI functionality is open source. Users can inspect the implementation and deploy it in self-hosted environments.

What are the deployment patterns?

  • Point-in-time assessment: Penetration testers and cloud architects run one-time security checks
  • Continuous monitoring: SaaS platform tracks security posture changes over time
  • Compliance reporting: Map findings to compliance frameworks for audit documentation
  • OEM integration: Other platforms embed Prowler for cloud security capabilities
  • Air-gapped deployment: Self-hosted version operates without internet connectivity for sensitive environments

What are the limitations?

Self-hosted deployments require user maintenance. The SaaS platform provides managed infrastructure. Free tier provides tooling; paid tier provides operational convenience.

The platform focuses on cloud security posture. It does not provide runtime workload protection, container security scanning, or application-layer vulnerability detection.

Risky Business appearances

Sources