cnspec

Open source, cloud-native security and policy project

cnspec assesses your entire infrastructure's security and compliance. It finds vulnerabilities and misconfigurations across public and private cloud environments, Kubernetes clusters, containers, container registries, servers, and endpoints, SaaS products, infrastructure as code, APIs, and more.

A powerful policy as code engine, cnspec is built upon cnquery. It comes configured with default security policies that run right out of the box. It's both fast and simple to use!

Installation

Install cnspec with our installation script:

Linux and macOS

bash -c "$(curl -sSL https://install.mondoo.com/sh)"

Windows

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope Process -Force;
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072;
iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://install.mondoo.com/ps1'));
Install-Mondoo;

If you prefer manual installation, you can find the cnspec packages in our releases.

Run a scan with policies

Use the cnspec scan subcommand to check local and remote targets for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.

Local scan

This command evaluates the security of your local machine:

cnspec scan local

Remote scan targets

You can also specify remote targets to scan. For example:

# to scan a docker image:
cnspec scan docker image ubuntu:22.04

# scan public ECR registry
aws ecr-public get-login-password --region us-east-1 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin public.ecr.aws/r6z5b8t4
cnspec scan docker image public.ecr.aws/r6z5b8t4

# to scan an AWS account using the local AWS config
cnspec scan aws

# scan an EC2 instance with EC2 Instance Connect
cnspec scan aws ec2 instance-connect root@i-1234567890abcdef0

# to scan a Kubernetes cluster via your local kubectl config or a local manifest file
cnspec scan k8s
cnspec scan k8s manifest.yaml

# to scan a GitHub repository
export GITHUB_TOKEN=<personal_access_token>
cnspec scan github repo <org/repo>

📚 To learn more, read the cnspec docs.

Policies

cnspec policies are built on the concept of policy as code. cnspec comes with default security policies configured for all supported targets. The default policies are available in the cnspec-policies GitHub repo.

Vulnerability scan

cnspec scans for vulnerabilities in a wide range of platforms. Vulnerability scanning is not restricted to container images; it works for build and runtime as well.

NOTE: The current version requires you to log into Mondoo Platform. Future versions will let you scan the platforms without logging in.

Examples

# scan container image
cnspec vuln docker debian:10

# scan aws instance via EC@ instance connect
cnspec vuln aws ec2 instance-connect root@i-1234567890abcdef0

# scan instance via SSH
cnspec vuln ssh user@host

# scan windows via SSH or Winrm
cnspec vuln ssh user@host --ask-pass
cnspec vuln winrm user@host --ask-pass

# scan VMware vSphere ESXi hosts
cnspec vuln vsphere user@host --ask-pass

# scan Linux, Windows
cnspec vuln local

cnspec interactive shell

cnspec also provides an interactive shell to explore assertions. It helps you understand the assertions that security policies use, as well as write your own policies. It's also a great way to interact with both local and remote targets on the fly.

Local system shell

cnspec shell local

The shell provides a help command for information on the resources that power cnspec. Running help without any arguments lists all of the available resources and their fields. You can also run help <resource> to get more detail on a specific resource. For example:

cnspec> help ports
ports:              TCP/IP ports on the system
  list []port:      List of all TCP/IP ports
  listening []port: All listening ports

The shell uses auto-complete, which makes it easy to explore.

Once inside the shell, you can enter MQL assertions like this:

> ports.listening.none( port == 23 )

To clear the terminal, type clear.

To exit, either hit CTRL + D or type exit.

Scale cnspec across your fleet with Mondoo Platform

The easiest way to scale cnspec across your fleet is to sign up for a free Mondoo Platform account. With Mondoo Platform, you can:

• Aggregate and share reports
• Perform vulnerability scans
• Store and distribute policies from a central location
• Set custom policy exceptions
• Explore the relationships between the different assets in your infrastructure

Mondoo Platform's web-based console allows you to navigate, search, and arrange all of your reports. The platform is designed for multi-tenancy and provides a secure, private environment that keeps data about your assets in your own account. With the platform, you can assess all your assets based on consistent policies and define custom policies and exceptions for your fleet.

Go to console.mondoo.com to sign up.

To learn about Mondoo Platform, read the Mondoo Platform docs or visit mondoo.com.

Register cnspec with Mondoo Platform

To use cnspec with Mondoo Platform, generate a token in the Mondoo Console, then run:

cnspec login --token TOKEN

Once authenticated, you can scan any target:

cnspec scan <target>

cnspec returns the results from the scan to STDOUT and to Mondoo Platform.

With an account on Mondoo Platform, you can upload policies:

cnspec bundle upload mypolicy.mql.yaml

Custom policies

A cnspec policy is simply a YAML file that lets you express any security rule or best practice for your fleet.

A few examples can be found in the examples folder in this repo. You can run any of these policies:

cnspec scan local -f examples/example.mql.yaml

If you're interested in writing your own policies or contributing policies back to the cnspec community, read Mondoo's Policy Authoring Guide.

Supported targets

What's next?

There are so many things cnspec can do, from testing your entire fleet for vulnerabilities to gathering information and creating reports for auditors. With its custom policies, cnspec can scan any component you care about!

Explore our:

• cnspec docs
• Policy bundles
• Policy as code
• MQL introduction
• MQL resource packs
• cnquery, our open source, cloud-native asset inventory tool
• HashiCorp Packer plugin to integrate cnspec with HashiCorp Packer!

Join the community!

Our goal is to secure all layers of your infrastructure. If you need support or want to get involved with the development of cnspec, join our community today and let's grow it together!

Development

See our development docs for information on building and contributing to cnspec.

Legal

• Copyright: 2018-2023, Mondoo, Inc.
• License: MPLv2
• Authors: Christoph Hartmann, Dominik Richter