implementing-infrastructure-as-code-security-scanning

This skill covers implementing automated security scanning for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates using tools like Checkov, tfsec, and KICS. It addresses detecting misconfigurations in Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes manifests, and Helm charts before deployment, establishing policy-based governance, and integrating IaC scanning into CI/CD pipelines to prevent insecure cloud resource provisioning.

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Repository: autohandai/community-skills
Last source activity: March 16, 2026 at 00:59
Detected SKILL.md language: English
Stars: 10
Forks: 3

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name	implementing-infrastructure-as-code-security-scanning
description	This skill covers implementing automated security scanning for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) templates using tools like Checkov, tfsec, and KICS. It addresses detecting misconfigurations in Terraform, CloudFormation, Kubernetes manifests, and Helm charts before deployment, establishing policy-based governance, and integrating IaC scanning into CI/CD pipelines to prevent insecure cloud resource provisioning.
domain	cybersecurity
subdomain	devsecops
tags	["devsecops","cicd","iac-security","checkov","tfsec","terraform","secure-sdlc"]
version	1.0.0
author	mahipal
license	Apache-2.0

Implementing Infrastructure as Code Security Scanning

When to Use

When provisioning cloud infrastructure with Terraform, CloudFormation, or Pulumi and needing automated security validation
When compliance frameworks require evidence of infrastructure configuration review before deployment
When preventing common cloud misconfigurations like public S3 buckets, open security groups, or unencrypted storage
When establishing guardrails that block insecure infrastructure changes in pull requests
When managing multi-cloud environments requiring consistent security policies across AWS, Azure, and GCP

Do not use for scanning application source code (use SAST), for monitoring already-deployed infrastructure drift (use cloud security posture management tools), or for container image vulnerability scanning (use Trivy).

Prerequisites

Checkov v3.x installed (pip install checkov) or tfsec installed
Terraform, CloudFormation, or Kubernetes IaC files in the repository
CI/CD pipeline with access to IaC directories
Bridgecrew API key (optional, for Checkov platform integration)

Workflow

Step 1: Run Checkov Against Terraform Files

# Scan all Terraform files in a directory
checkov -d ./terraform/ --framework terraform --output cli --output json --output-file-path ./results

# Scan specific file
checkov -f main.tf --output json

# Scan Terraform plan (more accurate for dynamic values)
terraform init && terraform plan -out=tfplan
terraform show -json tfplan > tfplan.json
checkov -f tfplan.json --framework terraform_plan

# Scan with specific checks only
checkov -d ./terraform/ --check CKV_AWS_18,CKV_AWS_19,CKV_AWS_20

# Skip specific checks
checkov -d ./terraform/ --skip-check CKV_AWS_145,CKV2_AWS_6

Step 2: Integrate IaC Scanning into GitHub Actions

# .github/workflows/iac-security.yml
name: IaC Security Scan

on:
  pull_request:
    paths:
      - 'terraform/**'
      - 'cloudformation/**'

# custom_checks/s3_versioning.py
from checkov.terraform.checks.resource.base_resource_check import BaseResourceCheck
from checkov.common.models.enums import CheckResult, CheckCategories


class S3BucketVersioning(BaseResourceCheck):
    def __init__(self):
        name = "Ensure S3 bucket has versioning enabled"
        id = "CKV_CUSTOM_1"
        supported_resources = ["aws_s3_bucket"]
        categories = [CheckCategories.GENERAL_SECURITY]
        super().__init__(name=name, id=id, categories=categories,
                         supported_resources=supported_resources)

    def scan_resource_conf(self, conf):
        versioning = conf.get("versioning", [{}])
        if isinstance(versioning, list) and len(versioning) > 0:
            if versioning[0].get("enabled", [False])[0]:
                return CheckResult.PASSED
        return CheckResult.FAILED


check = S3BucketVersioning()

# .checkov.yaml
branch: main
compact: true
directory:
  - terraform/
  - cloudformation/
framework:
  - terraform
  - cloudformation
  - kubernetes
output:
  - cli
  - sarif
skip-check:
  - CKV_AWS_145    # S3 default encryption with CMK (using SSE-S3 is acceptable)
  - CKV2_AWS_6     # S3 bucket request logging (handled at CloudTrail level)
soft-fail: false

# Scan Kubernetes manifests
checkov -d ./k8s/ --framework kubernetes

# Scan Helm charts (renders templates first)
checkov -d ./charts/myapp/ --framework helm

# Scan with KICS (Keeping Infrastructure as Code Secure)
docker run -v $(pwd)/k8s:/path checkmarx/kics:latest scan \
  --path /path \
  --output-path /path/results \
  --type Kubernetes \
  --report-formats json,sarif

Term	Definition
IaC Scanning	Automated analysis of infrastructure code templates to detect security misconfigurations before deployment
Policy as Code	Security policies defined as executable code that can be version-controlled, tested, and enforced automatically
CKV Check ID	Checkov's unique identifier for each security check (e.g., CKV_AWS_18 for S3 public access)
Terraform Plan Scanning	Scanning the resolved Terraform plan JSON which includes computed values and module expansions
Graph-based Scanning	Checkov's ability to analyze relationships between resources, not just individual resource configs
Drift Detection	Identifying differences between IaC definitions and actual deployed infrastructure state
Custom Policy	Organization-specific security checks authored in Python or YAML to enforce internal standards

IaC Security Scan Report
==========================
Framework: Terraform
Directory: terraform/
Scan Date: 2026-02-23

Checkov Results:
  Passed: 187
  Failed: 12
  Skipped: 3
  Unknown: 0

FAILED CHECKS:
  CKV_AWS_18  [HIGH]   S3 Bucket has public read ACL
              Resource: aws_s3_bucket.data_lake
              File:     terraform/storage.tf:15-28

  CKV_AWS_24  [HIGH]   CloudWatch log group not encrypted
              Resource: aws_cloudwatch_log_group.app
              File:     terraform/monitoring.tf:3-8

  CKV_AWS_79  [MEDIUM] Instance metadata service v1 enabled
              Resource: aws_instance.web
              File:     terraform/compute.tf:12-30

QUALITY GATE: FAILED (2 HIGH severity findings)