Lynis alternatives
Looking for an alternative tool to replace Lynis? During the review of Lynis we looked at other open source tools. Based on their category, tags, and text, these are the ones that have the best match.
Alternatives (by score)
YASAT
Introduction
The YASAT tool performs a system scan to detect configuration issues and possible improvements for hardening the system. Typically you would use this on new and existing systems.
Project details
YASAT is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- - No updates for a while
Typical usage
- IT audit
- Configuration audit
- Security assessment
OpenSCAP
Introduction
The OpenSCAP project provides a wide variety of hardening guides, configuration baselines, and tools to test for vulnerabilities and configuration issues. It uses SCAP as the protocol to store the underlying data.
Project details
OpenSCAP is written in C.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 25 contributors
- + The source code of this software is available
- + Supported by a large company
Typical usage
- Security assessment
- Vulnerability scanning
Zeus
Introduction
Zeus is a tool to perform a quick security scan of an AWS environment. It helps to find missing security controls, so additional system hardening measures can be applied to systems.
Project details
Zeus is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No releases on GitHub available
Typical usage
- Configuration audit
- Security assessment
- Self-assessment
- System hardening
JShielder
Introduction
JShielder is a security tool for Linux systems to make them more secure by adding system hardening measures.Project details
JShielder is written in Python, shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- System hardening
Nix Auditor
Introduction
This fairly new tool is written in shell script to scan Linux systems with the focus on security auditing.
Project details
Nix Auditor is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- - Full name of author is unknown
- - Unknown project license
Prowler
Introduction
Prowler is a security tool to check systems on AWS against the related CIS benchmark. This benchmark provides a set of best practices for AWS. The primary usage for this tool is system hardening and compliance checking.
Project details
Prowler is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 25 contributors
- + More than 500 GitHub stars
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Compliance testing
- Security assessment
- System hardening
otseca
Introduction
Tools like otseca help with data collection. This could be useful for system administrators to collect data on a regular interval. This data then can be compared with a future data capture. Another possibility is to use it during pentesting. In that case one should have already obtained root access, as the tool requires this as well.
Project details
otseca is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code is easy to read and understand
- + Tool is modular and extendable
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Configuration audit
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
orthrus
Introduction
Orthrus is a security framework and auditing tool. It allows monitoring and analyzing security configurations across multiple environments.
Project details
orthrus is written in Golang.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - Project is in early phase and may be unstable
Typical usage
- Security assessment
- Self-assessment
- System hardening
- Vulnerability scanning
LUNAR
Introduction
LUNAR is short for Lockdown UNix Auditing and Reporting and runs on the system itself.
Project details
LUNAR is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Security assessment
- Self-assessment
- System hardening
Cloud Security Suite (CS Suite)
Introduction
Cloud Security Suite (CS Suite) is a security toolkit that allows scanning Amazon, Google, and Azure cloud platforms. It leverages tools like Lynis, Prowler, and Scout2 to collect all information. The promise of the tool is to simplify the installation of the tools, their configuration, and the data collection.
Project details
Cloud Security Suite is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No releases on GitHub available
Typical usage
- IT audit
- Configuration audit
- Penetration testing
- System hardening
sysechk (System Security Checker)
Introduction
System Security Checker, or sysechk, is a tool to perform a system audit against a set of best practices. It uses a modular approach to test the system.Project details
sysechk is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- IT audit
- System hardening
SSHsec
Introduction
SSHsec scans a system running the SSH protocol and retrieves its configuration, host keys, and Diffie-Hellman groups.Project details
SSHsec is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Information gathering
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
ssh_scan
Introduction
This tool is light on its dependencies, as it only uses Ruby and BinData. The scanner is simple to use, as it is limited in the number of parameters and options. There is also the ability to show the results on the screen or export the data to a JSON file. The latter is great if you want to do further processing of the details, or simply store them for later comparison.
Project details
ssh_scan is written in Ruby.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 10 contributors
- + Many releases available
- + The source code of this software is available
- + Supported by a large company
Typical usage
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
- System hardening
- Vulnerability scanning
Anchore Engine
Introduction
Anchore is a tool to help with discovering, analyzing and certifying container images. These images can be stored both on-premises or in the cloud. The tooling is mainly focused on developer so that perform analysis on their container images. Typical actions include running queries, creating reports, or set up policies for a continuous integration and deployment pipeline.
Project details
Anchore Engine is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 10 contributors
- + Commercial support available
- + More than 1000 GitHub stars
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- System hardening
Dagda
Introduction
The main reasons to use Dagda is the detection of vulnerable or malicious components within your containerized environment.
Project details
Dagda is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Malware detection
- Malware scanning
- Vulnerability management
- Vulnerability scanning
GGRC (Google Governance, Risk and Compliance)
Introduction
The GGRC project has the goal to provide a solution to manage the challenges that come with complying with regulations. It provides a system to record information and capture the relationships between all the pieces.
Project details
GGRC is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 50 contributors
- + Many releases available
- + The source code of this software is available
- + Supported by a large company
Typical usage
- Compliance testing
VHostScan
Introduction
Tools like VHostScan are powerful to perform reconnaissance and discover configuration defaults. This can be useful during penetration tests or security testing, to see if a system has been stripped from default pages. If not, this tool might discover them and provide valuable information about the system.
Project details
VHostScan is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Penetration testing
- Reconnaissance
testssl.sh
Introduction
Key features of testssl.sh include:
- Clear output: you can tell easily whether anything is good or bad
- Ease of installation: It works for Linux, Darwin, FreeBSD, NetBSD and MSYS2/Cygwin out of the box: no need to install or configure something, no gems, CPAN, pip or the like.
- Flexibility: You can test any SSL/TLS enabled and STARTTLS service, not only webservers at port 443
- Toolbox: Several command line options help you to run YOUR test and configure YOUR output
- Reliability: features are tested thoroughly
- Verbosity: If a particular check cannot be performed because of a missing capability on your client side, you'll get a warning
- Privacy: It's only you who sees the result, not a third party
- Freedom: It's 100% open source. You can look at the code, see what's going on and you can change it.
Project details
testssl.sh is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Application testing
- Configuration audit
Archery
Introduction
Archery is a tool that helps to collect data about vulnerabilities within an environment. Instead of focusing on the actual scanning, it allows managing findings in a web-based interface. This includes options like reporting, searching, and dashboards. It can interact with other tools, including the well-known vulnerability scanners.
Project details
Archery is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 500 GitHub stars
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Penetration testing
- Vulnerability management
- Vulnerability scanning
- Vulnerability testing
ssh-audit
Introduction
The ssh-audit tool is of great help when scanning SSH servers to discover possible improvements. It is written in Python and with a simple 'git clone' it can already be started. You typically would use a tool like this to improve your own SSH configurations or as part of a security assignment.
Project details
ssh-audit is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code is easy to read and understand
- + Tool is easy to use
- + More than 2000 GitHub stars
- + Very low number of dependencies
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Application security
- Penetration testing
- Security assessment
CloudSploit scans
Introduction
CloudSploit scans is an open source software project to test security risks related to an AWS account. It runs tests against your Amazon account and aims to discover any potential misconfigured setting or other risks.Project details
CloudSploit scans is written in Node.js.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 10 contributors
- + More than 500 GitHub stars
- + The source code of this software is available
- - No releases on GitHub available
Typical usage
- IT audit
- Configuration audit
- Security assessment
Kube-Bench
Introduction
Tools like Kube-Bench help with quickly checking configuration weaknesses or discovering bad defaults.
Project details
Kube-Bench is written in Golang.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
iniscan
Introduction
Iniscan scans a given php.ini file and tests it against security best practices. It reports back the results by showing a Pass or Fail for each related test. As it is a command-line utility, it can be used in automated testing.
Project details
iniscan is written in PHP.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + More than 25 contributors
- + More than 1000 GitHub stars
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Configuration audit
- Security assessment
BDA (Big Data Audit)
Introduction
BDA is a vulnerability scanner for big data tools like Hadoop and Spark. It searches for configuration weaknesses and reports them. Hadoop and Spark are one of the few applications that encounter a lot of data. So by securing these applications, a big leap can be made as it covers a lot of data.
Project details
BDA is written in Python.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Application testing
- Vulnerability scanning
- Vulnerability testing
Bash Scanner
Introduction
Bash Scanner is a security tool that does a quick scan to see if there are vulnerable packages. It uses an external service to validate.Project details
Bash Scanner is written in shell script.
Strengths and weaknesses
- + Used language is shell script
- + The source code of this software is available
Typical usage
- Security assessment
- Security monitoring
Some relevant tool missing as an alternative to Lynis? Please contact us with your suggestion.