Performing AWS Account Enumeration with ScoutSuite
Overview
ScoutSuite is an open-source multi-cloud security auditing tool developed by NCC Group that enables comprehensive security posture assessment of AWS environments. It queries AWS APIs to gather configuration data across all services, stores results locally, and generates interactive HTML reports highlighting high-risk areas. ScoutSuite is agentless and works by analyzing how cloud resources are configured, accessed, and monitored.
When to Use
- When conducting security assessments that involve performing aws account enumeration with scout suite
- When following incident response procedures for related security events
- When performing scheduled security testing or auditing activities
- When validating security controls through hands-on testing
Prerequisites
- Python 3.6+ installed
- AWS CLI configured with appropriate IAM credentials
- Read-only IAM permissions across target AWS services (SecurityAudit managed policy recommended)
- pip package manager for ScoutSuite installation
- Network access to AWS API endpoints
Installation and Setup
Install ScoutSuite
pip install scoutsuite
Verify installation
scout --version
Configure AWS credentials
aws configure
export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<your-key>
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<your-secret>
export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1
Required IAM Policy
Attach the AWS managed policy SecurityAudit and ViewOnlyAccess to the IAM user or role running ScoutSuite. For comprehensive scanning, a custom policy may be needed:
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"acm:Describe*",
"acm:List*",
"cloudformation:Describe*",
"cloudformation:Get*",
"cloudformation:List*",
"cloudtrail:Describe*",
"cloudtrail:Get*",
"cloudtrail:List*",
"cloudwatch:Describe*",
"cloudwatch:Get*",
"cloudwatch:List*",
"config:Describe*",
"config:Get*",
"config:List*",
"dynamodb:Describe*",
"dynamodb:List*",
"ec2:Describe*",
"ec2:Get*",
"elasticloadbalancing:Describe*",
"iam:Generate*",
"iam:Get*",
"iam:List*",
"iam:Simulate*",
"kms:Describe*",
"kms:Get*",
"kms:List*",
"lambda:Get*",
"lambda:List*",
"logs:Describe*",
"logs:Get*",
"rds:Describe*",
"rds:List*",
"redshift:Describe*",
"route53:Get*",
"route53:List*",
"s3:Get*",
"s3:List*",
"ses:Get*",
"ses:List*",
"sns:Get*",
"sns:List*",
"sqs:Get*",
"sqs:List*",
"ssm:Describe*",
"ssm:Get*",
"ssm:List*"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
Running ScoutSuite
Full AWS scan
scout aws
Scan specific services only
scout aws --services s3 iam ec2 rds
Scan specific regions
scout aws --regions us-east-1 us-west-2 eu-west-1
Use an assumed role for cross-account scanning
scout aws --profile target-account-profile
Exclude specific services from scan
scout aws --skip iam ec2
Specify output directory
scout aws --report-dir /tmp/scoutsuite-reports/
Report Analysis
ScoutSuite generates an interactive HTML report stored locally. The report includes:
- Dashboard: Overview of findings by severity (danger, warning, good)
- Service-level findings: Grouped by AWS service (IAM, S3, EC2, RDS, etc.)
- Rule-based checks: Each finding maps to a security best practice rule
- Resource inventory: Complete listing of enumerated resources
Key areas to review in the report
| Service | Critical Checks |
|---|
| IAM | Root account MFA, password policy, unused credentials, overprivileged policies |
| S3 | Public buckets, unencrypted buckets, versioning disabled, logging disabled |
| EC2 | Security groups with 0.0.0.0/0, unencrypted EBS volumes, public IPs |
| RDS | Public accessibility, unencrypted databases, backup retention |
| CloudTrail | Logging disabled, log file validation, multi-region disabled |
| Lambda | Public access, environment variable secrets, VPC configuration |
Interpreting Findings
Severity Levels
- Danger (Red): Critical security issues requiring immediate remediation (e.g., S3 buckets with public write access)
- Warning (Orange): Moderate risk findings that should be addressed (e.g., unused IAM access keys)
- Good (Green): Security best practices that are properly configured
Common High-Risk Findings
- IAM root account without MFA: The AWS root account has no multi-factor authentication enabled
- S3 bucket policy allows public access: Bucket policies with Principal set to "*"
- Security group allows unrestricted SSH: Inbound rule allowing 0.0.0.0/0 on port 22
- CloudTrail not enabled in all regions: Audit logging gaps allow unmonitored API activity
- RDS instance publicly accessible: Database endpoints reachable from the internet
Remediation Workflow
- Run ScoutSuite scan to establish baseline
- Export findings and prioritize by severity
- Create remediation tickets for danger and warning findings
- Implement fixes (update security groups, enable encryption, restrict access)
- Re-run ScoutSuite to verify remediation
- Schedule regular scans (weekly or after infrastructure changes)
Integration with CI/CD
scout aws --services s3 iam ec2 --no-browser --report-dir ./scout-report/
python -c "
import json
with open('./scout-report/scoutsuite-results/scoutsuite_results.json') as f:
results = json.load(f)
for service in results.get('services', {}):
findings = results['services'][service].get('findings', {})
for finding_id, finding in findings.items():
if finding.get('flagged_items', 0) > 0 and finding.get('level') == 'danger':
print(f'CRITICAL: {finding_id} - {finding.get(\"description\", \"\")}')
"
Multi-Cloud Capability
ScoutSuite supports multiple cloud providers using the same framework:
scout azure --cli
scout gcp --user-account
scout aws --profile production
References
