Scoutsuite

scoutsuite Agent Skill

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Running a cloud security assessment against AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI, or Alibaba Cloud
• The user wants to enumerate misconfigurations, over-permissive IAM, or public exposure
• Generating an HTML or JSON security report for a cloud environment
• Writing or customizing ScoutSuite rules for specific compliance requirements
• Integrating cloud scanning into a CI/CD security gate
• Triaging ScoutSuite findings (danger/warning/info) and building remediation plans

What ScoutSuite Does

ScoutSuite is a multi-cloud security auditing tool that collects configuration data from cloud provider APIs and evaluates it against a built-in rule engine. It produces an interactive HTML report categorizing findings into danger, warning, and informational levels across all major services. Unlike Prowler or CloudSploit, ScoutSuite maintains its own offline graph of all collected resources, enabling cross-service correlation without repeated API calls.

Installation

# Recommended: virtualenv
python3 -m venv scoutsuite-env
source scoutsuite-env/bin/activate

# Install from PyPI
pip install scoutsuite

# Or install from source (latest)
git clone https://github.com/nccgroup/ScoutSuite.git
cd ScoutSuite
pip install -r requirements.txt
pip install .

# Verify
scout --version

Cloud Provider SDK Dependencies

# AWS
pip install boto3

# Azure
pip install msrestazure azure-mgmt-*  # pulled automatically with scoutsuite

# GCP
pip install google-auth google-cloud-*  # pulled automatically

# All providers in one shot (already included via requirements.txt)
pip install scoutsuite[all]

Supported Providers

Provider	Flag	Notes
AWS	aws	IAM, EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, CloudTrail, etc.
Azure	azure	Subscriptions, AAD, Storage, VMs, NSGs
GCP	gcp	Projects, GCS, GCE, IAM, Cloud SQL
Alibaba	aliyun	ECS, OSS, RAM, RDS
OCI	oci	Compute, Object Storage, IAM, VCN

Authentication Methods

AWS Authentication

# Named profile (recommended)
scout aws --profile prod-readonly

# Environment variables
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIA...
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
scout aws

# Assume a role
scout aws --profile base-profile --role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/AuditRole

# MFA-protected
scout aws --profile mfa-profile --mfa-serial arn:aws:iam::123456789:mfa/user --mfa-code 123456

# All regions (default is all enabled regions)
scout aws --profile prod --all-regions

# Specific regions only
scout aws --profile prod --regions us-east-1 us-west-2

Minimum AWS IAM permissions for read-only scan: Attach SecurityAudit managed policy plus ReadOnlyAccess for full coverage. For a minimal custom policy, ScoutSuite needs Get*, List*, Describe* across all services being scanned.

Azure Authentication

# Interactive browser login (default)
scout azure --cli

# Service principal
scout azure --service-principal \
  --tenant-id <tenant-id> \
  --subscription-id <sub-id> \
  --client-id <app-id> \
  --client-secret <secret>

# Managed identity (from Azure VM)
scout azure --msi

# Specific subscription
scout azure --cli --subscription-id <sub-id>

GCP Authentication

# Application Default Credentials (gcloud auth application-default login)
scout gcp --user-account --project-id my-project

# Service account key file
scout gcp --service-account --key-file /path/to/sa-key.json --project-id my-project

# All projects accessible to the account
scout gcp --user-account --all-projects

# Specific folder
scout gcp --user-account --folder-id 123456789

OCI Authentication

# Uses ~/.oci/config automatically
scout oci --tenancy-id ocid1.tenancy.oc1..xxx

# Specific profile from config
scout oci --profile AUDIT

Core Scanning Workflow

# Basic AWS scan — outputs to ./scoutsuite-report/
scout aws --profile prod

# Specify output directory
scout aws --profile prod --report-dir /tmp/scout-prod-$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Run only specific services
scout aws --profile prod --services ec2 iam s3 rds

# Skip specific services
scout aws --profile prod --exceptions-file exceptions.json

# Force overwrite existing report
scout aws --profile prod --force

# Parallelism (default 10 threads)
scout aws --profile prod --max-workers 20

# Full multi-cloud example
scout gcp --service-account --key-file sa.json --project-id myproject --report-dir ./gcp-audit

Understanding Findings

Severity Levels

Level	Color	Meaning
danger	Red	Critical misconfiguration — direct security risk
warning	Orange	Elevated risk — deviates from best practice
info	Blue	Informational — no immediate risk, useful context

Navigating the HTML Report

1. Open scoutsuite-report/scoutsuite_results_aws-<profile>.html in a browser
2. Left sidebar: services (IAM, EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda, CloudTrail, KMS…)
3. Click a service → see rule violations with counts
4. Click a rule → see all affected resources with raw JSON evidence
5. Filter by severity using the top toggles
6. Export finding data via the JSON file: scoutsuite-report/scoutsuite_results_aws-<profile>.js

Programmatic Access to Results

import json, re

# Strip the JS wrapper to get raw JSON
with open('scoutsuite-report/scoutsuite_results_aws-prod.js') as f:
    raw = f.read()
data = json.loads(re.sub(r'^scoutsuite_results\s*=\s*', '', raw).rstrip(';'))

# Enumerate danger-level findings
for svc, svc_data in data['services'].items():
    for rule_id, rule in svc_data.get('findings', {}).items():
        if rule.get('level') == 'danger' and rule.get('flagged_items', 0) > 0:
            print(f"[DANGER] {svc}/{rule_id}: {rule['flagged_items']} items")

Rule Engine

Rule File Structure

Rules live in ScoutSuite/providers/<provider>/rules/ruleset-default.json and individual JSON files under rules/findings/.

{
  "description": "Root account used recently",
  "rationale": "Root account usage indicates shared credentials or privilege abuse.",
  "remediation": "Disable root access keys; enable MFA.",
  "compliance": [{"name": "CIS AWS", "version": "1.4", "reference": "1.7"}],
  "references": ["https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_root-account.html"],
  "dashboard_name": "Root account used recently",
  "display_path": "iam.root.LastUsedDate",
  "path": "iam.root.LastUsedDate",
  "conditions": ["and", ["iam.root.LastUsedDate", "withinlastdays", "1"]],
  "id": "root-account-used-recently",
  "level": "danger"
}

Custom Rule Creation

# Create a custom ruleset directory
mkdir -p ~/.scoutsuite/rules/findings

# Write a custom rule: detect S3 buckets without versioning
cat > ~/.scoutsuite/rules/findings/s3-versioning-disabled.json << 'EOF'
{
  "description": "S3 bucket versioning disabled",
  "rationale": "Versioning protects against accidental deletion and ransomware.",
  "remediation": "Enable versioning on all S3 buckets.",
  "path": "s3.buckets.id",
  "conditions": ["and",
    ["s3.buckets.id.Versioning", "notEqual", "Enabled"]
  ],
  "id": "s3-versioning-disabled",
  "level": "warning"
}
EOF

# Use custom ruleset
scout aws --profile prod --ruleset ~/.scoutsuite/rules/ruleset-custom.json

Ruleset Configuration

{
  "name": "Custom Ruleset",
  "about": "Org-specific security rules",
  "rules": {
    "s3-versioning-disabled": {"enabled": true, "level": "danger"},
    "root-account-no-mfa": {"enabled": true, "level": "danger"},
    "ec2-security-group-open-to-all": {"enabled": true, "level": "danger"},
    "cloudtrail-not-enabled": {"enabled": false}
  }
}

Filtering and Exceptions

# Exclude specific resources from findings (not from collection)
# exceptions.json:
{
  "ec2": {
    "security_groups": ["sg-xxxxxx", "sg-yyyyyy"]
  },
  "s3": {
    "buckets": ["my-public-website-bucket"]
  }
}

scout aws --profile prod --exceptions-file exceptions.json

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions Example

name: Cloud Security Scan
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 6 * * 1'  # Weekly Monday 6AM
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  scoutsuite:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Configure AWS credentials
        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v2
        with:
          role-to-assume: arn:aws:iam::${{ secrets.AWS_ACCOUNT_ID }}:role/ScoutSuiteAuditRole
          aws-region: us-east-1

      - name: Install ScoutSuite
        run: pip install scoutsuite

      - name: Run ScoutSuite
        run: scout aws --report-dir ./report --force

      - name: Check for danger findings
        run: |
          python3 - << 'EOF'
          import json, re, sys
          with open('./report/scoutsuite_results_aws-default.js') as f:
              data = json.loads(re.sub(r'^scoutsuite_results\s*=\s*', '', f.read()).rstrip(';'))
          dangers = sum(
              rule.get('flagged_items', 0)
              for svc in data['services'].values()
              for rule in svc.get('findings', {}).values()
              if rule.get('level') == 'danger'
          )
          print(f"Danger findings: {dangers}")
          sys.exit(1 if dangers > 0 else 0)
          EOF

      - name: Upload report
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
        with:
          name: scoutsuite-report
          path: ./report/

Common Workflows

External Cloud Pentest Assessment

# 1. Auth check
aws sts get-caller-identity --profile client-audit

# 2. Full scan with timestamped output
REPORT_DIR="./scoutsuite-$(date +%Y%m%d)"
scout aws --profile client-audit --report-dir "$REPORT_DIR" --all-regions

# 3. Extract critical findings for report
python3 extract_dangers.py "$REPORT_DIR"/scoutsuite_results_aws-*.js

# 4. Manually verify top findings in console or CLI
aws iam get-account-password-policy --profile client-audit
aws s3api get-bucket-acl --bucket <bucket-name> --profile client-audit

# 5. Screenshot key report sections for deliverable

Assumed Role / Cross-Account Scan

# Assume audit role in target account
aws sts assume-role \
  --role-arn arn:aws:iam::TARGET_ACCOUNT:role/AuditRole \
  --role-session-name scoutsuite-session \
  --profile source-account \
  | jq -r '.Credentials | "export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=\(.AccessKeyId)\nexport AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=\(.SecretAccessKey)\nexport AWS_SESSION_TOKEN=\(.SessionToken)"' \
  > assume_role.sh
source assume_role.sh
scout aws --report-dir ./target-account-audit

Troubleshooting

Issue	Fix
NoCredentialsError	Check ~/.aws/credentials or env vars; verify aws sts get-caller-identity
Rate limiting / throttling	Add --max-workers 5; scan fewer services with --services
AccessDenied for specific service	Add missing List*/Describe* permissions or skip service
HTML report blank in browser	Serve via python3 -m http.server 8080 — browser security blocks local JS
ModuleNotFoundError	Activate virtualenv; run pip install scoutsuite again
Azure auth loop	Use az login first, then scout azure --cli
GCP permission denied	Ensure SA has Security Reviewer + Viewer roles at project/org level
Stale results	Delete report dir and rerun with --force

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