AWS CDK Nag vs cfn-nag
AWS CDK Nag
github.comcfn-nag
github.comSide by side
| Figure | AWS CDK Nag | cfn-nag |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 0 | 1 |
| Spec score · IaC Security Scanners | 6.2 (#12) | 8.0 (#7) |
Plans
In their own words
AWS CDK Nag
AWS CDK Nag has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
cfn-nag
cfn-nag is free, MIT-licensed software that scans AWS CloudFormation templates for patterns that may indicate insecure infrastructure. It checks for overly permissive IAM policies and security-group rules, disabled access logging or encryption, and password literals. The scanner accepts JSON, .template, YAML, and YML files, and recursively processes subdirectories when given a directory. Results print to standard output, with JSON output available; failures return a non-zero exit code while warnings return success. Installation is documented through RubyGems and Homebrew, with Ruby 2.5 or later required for gem installation. A Dockerfile and Docker Hub image are provided. cfn-nag can run in GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipeline. Profiles, deny lists, per-resource suppressions, and custom rules support policy tailoring. Static analysis needs supplied parameter values to assess them and does not inspect false Fn::If outcomes by default.