5 Open-Source AWS Security CLI Tools Worth Trying in 2026

Disclosure: I’m the creator of cloud-audit, one of the tools reviewed in this article. I’ve done my best to provide a fair and balanced comparison, but you should know this context.

TL;DR

Prowler leads with 572 checks and 41 compliance frameworks. Trivy covers containers + cloud in a single binary (34k stars). CloudFox enumerates attacker-accessible resources for pentesters. Heimdall maps 85+ IAM privilege escalation paths. cloud-audit correlates findings into 20 attack chains with CLI + Terraform remediation code, scanning in under 60 seconds.

There’s something for everyone - it’s important to choose the right one for your work style.

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What are the best open-source AWS security CLI tools?

AWS security scanning splits into two camps: breadth (500+ rules, compliance coverage) and depth (attack chains, remediation code). I tested five CLI tools across both approaches. All data below is verified as of April 2026.

If you want a deeper dive into how Prowler and ScoutSuite stack up against cloud-audit, I wrote a detailed comparison.

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1. Prowler - best for compliance audits

Stars: over 13k | Checks: >550 (AWS) | Language: Python GitHub: prowler-cloud/prowler Install: pip install prowler

Anyone responsible for AWS environment security (and others) is likely familiar with Prowler. It’s by far the most popular open-source scanner. 572 AWS checks across 84 services and 41 compliance standards (CIS, SOC 2, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, NIST 800-53, and many more). If your auditor asks, “Are you using Prowler?” - that’s a sign that it’s popular.

If you’re looking for an alternative approach to Prowler’s breadth-first scanning, see my Prowler alternative comparison.

Advantages:

• The widest range of compliance among all OSS tools
• Multi-cloud: AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and others
• Active development, large community, commercial support
• HTML, CSV, JSON-OCSF, SARIF output

Where are the shortcomings:

• Scan time: 10-30 minutes on a standard account (572 checks take time)
• Attack path detection exists, but requires Prowler App (self-hosted Docker Compose + Neo4j + Cartography) or paid SaaS. The standard Prowler AWS CLI provides only simple results
• Remediation is performed using text hints, not copy-and-paste commands
• 572 findings can be cumbersome - you need to know which ones are relevant

Best for: Compliance-focused teams that need to check the box for CIS/SOC 2/HIPAA/PCI-DSS.

pip install prowler
prowler aws

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2. Trivy - best for container + cloud in one tool

Stars: > 34k | AWS Checks: ~350-450 | Language: Go GitHub: aquasecurity/trivy Install: brew install trivy

This is an interesting resource. Trivy was initially designed for container vulnerability scanning, but later expanded to include cloud misconfiguration scanning. A key differentiator is the single binary that covers everything - container images, IaC files (Terraform, CloudFormation), Kubernetes, SBOM, licenses, and active AWS accounts.

What it does well:

• A single binary covers containers + IaC + cloud + secrets + SBOM
• Fast, Go-based
• Huge community (34k stars)
• CycloneDX and SPDX output for supply chain

Where it falls short:

• AWS cloud scanning seems secondary to container scanning
• No attack chain detection - no correlation between findings
• Links to documentation pages for fixes, no CLI/Terraform output
• AWS CIS compliance limited to versions 1.2 and 1.4 (not 3.0)
• The March 2026 supply chain attack (trivy’s GitHub Action was compromised for about 12 hours, resolved same day) raised trust issues

Best for: Teams already using Trivy for containers and want a single tool for everything.

trivy aws --region eu-central-1

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3. CloudFox - best for penetration testing

Stars: >2300 | Commands: 24 AWS enumeration modules | Language: Go GitHub: BishopFox/cloudfox Install: brew install cloudfox

Here we’re dealing with a slightly different type of tool. This isn’t a typical scanner, it’s a tool for cloud penetration testers. It’s a reconnaissance tool that enumerates what an attacker with given credentials can actually do - which roles to assume, which secrets to read, which instances to reach.

What it excels at:

• An attacker’s perspective, not a defender’s checklist
• Enumeration across accounts and services
• Generates “loot files” - ready-to-use commands that an attacker could run
• Good for red teams/penetration

Where it falls short:

• No checks, no rules, no findings - just raw enumeration data
• No suggestions for remediation or fixes
• No compliance framework
• No HTML/PDF reports - just table and CSV output
• Requires manual analysis to connect facts to attack paths

Best for: Penetration testers and red teams assessing what can actually be accessed with permissions.

cloudfox aws --profile target-account all-checks

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4. Heimdall - best for IAM privilege escalation

Stars: >140 | Patterns: >50 IAM escalations, >85 attack chains | Language: Python GitHub: DenizParlak/heimdall Install: from source (pip install -e .)

Heimdall primarily focuses on IAM privilege escalation. It checks whether a user with limited privileges could accidentally become an administrator. It maps trust relationships between IAM roles, policies, and services to find multi-hop escalation paths (A assumes B, B has a PassRole to C, C is an administrator). For more on IAM privilege escalation debugging, see my article on debugging IAM with multi-model AI.

What it does well:

• Focuses on a difficult problem (privilege escalation) that most scanners miss
• Over 85 attack chain patterns with MITRE ATT&CK mapping
• Multi-hop detection (not just direct admin access)
• Interactive terminal user interface
• Ability to scan Terraform before deployment

Where it falls short:

• Last commit: December 2025 (appears outdated)
• No pip installation - cloning and installing from source required
• Lack of compliance frameworks (CIS, SOC 2, etc.)
• No remediation commands
• Small community (146 stars, 4 commits)
• AWS only

Best for: IAM-focused security reviews where the question “who can become an admin?” needs to be answered.

git clone https://github.com/DenizParlak/heimdall
cd heimdall && pip install -e .
heimdall scan

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5. cloud-audit - best for attack chains with fixes

Stars: >30 | Checks: 80 | Language: Python GitHub: gebalamariusz/cloud-audit Install: pip install cloud-audit Website: haitmg.pl/cloud-audit

I created this tool. I tried to gather everything I needed most for my work. I used to conduct the same security reviews at AWS, but I was missing one tool that would truly streamline my work, hence the idea. I needed a scanner that would show how findings connect to actual attack paths, not just a flat list.

What it does well:

• 20 attack chain rules that correlate findings (e.g., public SG + IMDSv1 + admin role = account takeover path)
• Each finding includes AWS CLI + Terraform remediation code, not just descriptions
• Compliance with AWS CIS v3.0 (62 checks) and SOC 2 Type II (43 criteria) with evidence for each check
• Breach cost estimation per finding and attack chain (sources cited: IBM, Verizon DBIR)
• Scan diff to track drift between runs
• MCP server for AI agent integration (Claude, Cursor)
• Under 60 seconds on a standard account

Where it falls short:

• 80 checks compared to 572 in Prowler - smaller coverage
• AWS only
• Small community (31 stars)
• Newer and less battle-tested
• No multi-cloud

Best for: Teams that need fewer, high-signal findings with attack context and ready-to-paste fixes.

If you want to see it in action, here’s a 4-minute walkthrough on YouTube where I scan a real AWS account and find 3 attack chains.

pip install cloud-audit
cloud-audit scan -R

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How do the 5 AWS security CLI tools compare?

	Prowler	Trivy	CloudFox	Heimdall	cloud-audit
AWS checks	572	~400	24 commands	50+ patterns	80
Attack chains	App only	No	No	Yes (85+)	Yes (20)
Remediation	Text	Doc links	No	No	CLI + Terraform
Compliance	41 frameworks	CIS 1.2/1.4	None	MITRE only	CIS v3.0, SOC 2
Multi-cloud	Yes (12+)	Yes	Yes (3)	No	No
Scan time	10-30 min	2-5 min	1-3 min	1-2 min	<60 sec
Output	HTML, CSV, SARIF, JSON	Table, SARIF, SPDX	Table, CSV, JSON	SARIF, CSV, JSON	HTML, SARIF, JSON, MD
Cost estimation	No	No	No	No	Yes

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Which AWS security scanner should you pick?

For a compliance audit: Prowler. Nothing else comes close on framework coverage.

For a pentest: CloudFox. It thinks like an attacker.

For container + cloud in one pipeline: Trivy. Single binary, single CI step.

For a quick “what can an attacker actually do with my account”: cloud-audit or Heimdall. Depends on whether you want IAM escalation depth (Heimdall) or broader attack chains with fixes (cloud-audit).

There is no reason to pick just one. I run Prowler for compliance evidence and cloud-audit for the attack chain context and fix code. They complement each other.

If you’re looking for a more detailed breakdown of how these tools compare on specific AWS security checks, I covered that in my AWS Security Scanners Compared article. And if you’re setting up security scanning in CI/CD, check out the AWS Security Audit Checklist for a step-by-step approach. For securing your GitHub Actions OIDC pipelines, that’s another common gap I find in audits.

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Tools and star counts verified as of April 2026. Check each project’s GitHub for the latest.