/auditing-aws-s3-bucket-permissions

name: auditing-aws-s3-bucket-permissions
description: 'Systematically audit AWS S3 bucket permissions to identify publicly accessible buckets, overly permissive ACLs,
  misconfigured bucket policies, and missing encryption settings using AWS CLI, S3audit, and Prowler to enforce least-privilege
  data access controls.

  '
domain: cybersecurity
subdomain: cloud-security
tags:
- cloud-security
- aws
- s3
- bucket-permissions
- data-protection
- access-control
version: '1.0'
author: mahipal
license: Apache-2.0
nist_csf:
- PR.IR-01
- ID.AM-08
- GV.SC-06
- DE.CM-01

Auditing AWS S3 Bucket Permissions

When to Use

• When conducting a security assessment of AWS environments to identify publicly exposed data
• When onboarding a new AWS account and establishing a security baseline for storage resources
• When responding to an alert about potential S3 data exposure from AWS Trusted Advisor or Security Hub
• When compliance frameworks (SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA) require periodic review of data access controls
• When a breach or credential compromise necessitates immediate review of all accessible S3 resources

**Do not use** for auditing non-AWS object storage (use provider-specific tools), for real-time monitoring (use S3 Event Notifications with Lambda), or for auditing S3 access patterns (use S3 Access Analyzer or CloudTrail S3 data events).

Prerequisites

• AWS CLI v2 configured with credentials that have `s3:GetBucketPolicy`, `s3:GetBucketAcl`, `s3:GetBucketPublicAccessBlock`, `s3:GetEncryptionConfiguration`, and `s3:ListAllMyBuckets` permissions
• Prowler installed (`pip install prowler`) for automated CIS benchmark checks
• S3audit or similar enumeration tool for quick public bucket detection
• Access to AWS Organizations if auditing across multiple accounts
• Python 3.8+ with boto3 for custom audit scripts

Workflow

Step 1: Enumerate All S3 Buckets and Account-Level Block Public Access

Check the account-level S3 Block Public Access settings first, then list all buckets with their regions.

# Check account-level S3 Block Public Access settings
aws s3control get-public-access-block \
  --account-id $(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text) \
  --output json

# List all buckets with creation dates
aws s3api list-buckets \
  --query 'Buckets[*].[Name,CreationDate]' \
  --output table

# Get bucket regions for each bucket
for bucket in $(aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[*].Name' --output text); do
  region=$(aws s3api get-bucket-location --bucket "$bucket" --query 'LocationConstraint' --output text)
  echo "$bucket -> ${region:-us-east-1}"
done

Step 2: Check Each Bucket's Public Access Block and ACL Configuration

Iterate through all buckets to evaluate their individual public access blocks and ACL grants.

# Check per-bucket Block Public Access settings
for bucket in $(aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[*].Name' --output text); do
  echo "=== $bucket ==="
  aws s3api get-public-access-block --bucket "$bucket" 2>/dev/null || echo "  No Block Public Access configured"

  # Check ACL for public grants
  aws s3api get-bucket-acl --bucket "$bucket" \
    --query 'Grants[?Grantee.URI==`http://acs.amazonaws.com/groups/global/AllUsers` || Grantee.URI==`http://acs.amazonaws.com/groups/global/AuthenticatedUsers`]' \
    --output json
done

Step 3: Analyze Bucket Policies for Overly Permissive Access

Review bucket policies for wildcard principals, missing conditions, and statements that allow broad access.

# Extract and analyze bucket policies
for bucket in $(aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[*].Name' --output text); do
  policy=$(aws s3api get-bucket-policy --bucket "$bucket" --output text 2>/dev/null)
  if [ -n "$policy" ]; then
    echo "=== $bucket policy ==="
    echo "$policy" | python3 -c "
import json, sys
policy = json.load(sys.stdin)
for stmt in policy.get('Statement', []):
    principal = stmt.get('Principal', {})
    effect = stmt.get('Effect', '')
    if principal == '*' or principal == {'AWS': '*'}:
        print(f'  WARNING: {effect} with wildcard principal')
        print(f'  Actions: {stmt.get(\"Action\", \"\")}')
        print(f'  Condition: {stmt.get(\"Condition\", \"NONE\")}')
"
  fi
done

Step 4: Verify Encryption and Versioning Settings

Check that all buckets have server-side encryption enabled and versioning configured for data protection.

# Check encryption and versioning status for all buckets
for bucket in $(aws s3api list-buckets --query 'Buckets[*].Name' --output text); do
  echo "=== $bucket ==="

  # Encryption configuration
  aws s3api get-bucket-encryption --bucket "$bucket" 2>/dev/null \
    && echo "  Encryption: ENABLED" \
    || echo "  Encryption: DISABLED"

  # Versioning status
  aws s3api get-bucket-versioning --bucket "$bucket" \
    --query 'Status' --output text

  # Logging status
  aws s3api get-bucket-logging --bucket "$bucket" \
    --query 'LoggingEnabled' --output text 2>/dev/null
done

Step 5: Run Prowler S3-Specific Checks

Execute Prowler's S3-focused checks aligned with CIS AWS Foundations Benchmark.

# Run Prowler S3-specific checks
prowler aws \
  --checks s3_bucket_public_access \
           s3_bucket_default_encryption \
           s3_bucket_policy_public_write_access \
           s3_bucket_server_access_logging_enabled \
           s3_bucket_versioning_enabled \
           s3_bucket_acl_prohibited \
  -M json-ocsf \
  -o ./prowler-s3-audit/

# View summary
prowler aws --checks s3 -M csv -o ./prowler-s3-audit/

Step 6: Use IAM Access Analyzer for S3 Public and Cross-Account Findings

Leverage IAM Access Analyzer to identify buckets shared externally or publicly.

# List Access Analyzer findings for S3
aws accessanalyzer list-findings \
  --analyzer-arn $(aws accessanalyzer list-analyzers --query 'analyzers[0].arn' --output text) \
  --filter '{"resourceType": {"eq": ["AWS::S3::Bucket"]}}' \
  --quer