Getting Started with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)

Prowler supports security scanning of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) environments. This guide will help you get started with using Prowler to audit your OCI tenancy.

Prowler Cloud

The following steps apply to Prowler Cloud and Prowler Local Server.

Step 1: Collect OCI Identifiers

Sign in to the OCI Console and open Tenancy Details to copy the Tenancy OCID.
Go to Identity & Security → Users, select the principal that owns the API key, and copy the User OCID.
Generate or locate the API key fingerprint and private key for that user. Follow the Config File Authentication steps to create or rotate the key pair and copy the fingerprint.
Note the Region identifier to scan (for example, us-ashburn-1).

Step 2: Access Prowler Cloud

Navigate to Prowler Cloud or launch Prowler Local Server.
Go to Configuration → Providers and click Add Provider.
Select Oracle Cloud and enter the Tenancy OCID and an optional alias, then choose Next.

Step 3: Add OCI API Key Credentials

Prowler Cloud connects to OCI with API key credentials. Provide:

User OCID for the API key owner
Fingerprint of the API key
Region (for example, us-ashburn-1)
Private Key Content (paste the full PEM value)
Passphrase (Optional) if the private key is encrypted

Select Next, then Launch Scan to validate the connection and start the first OCI scan. The private key content is encoded for secure transmission.

Prowler CLI

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

Prowler installed with OCI dependencies:

pip install prowler
# or for development:
uv sync

OCI Python SDK (automatically installed with Prowler):
pip install oci==2.152.1
OCI Account Access with appropriate permissions to read resources in your tenancy.

Authentication

Prowler supports multiple authentication methods for OCI. For detailed authentication setup, see the OCI Authentication Guide. Note: OCI Session Authentication and Config File Authentication both use the same ~/.oci/config file. The difference is how the config file is generated - automatically via browser (session auth) or manually with API keys.

Quick Start: OCI Session Authentication (Recommended)

The easiest and most secure method is using OCI session authentication, which automatically generates your config file via browser login. Prerequisites: You need to have the OCI CLI installed. See the OCI CLI Installation Guide for installation instructions.

Authenticate using the OCI CLI:
oci session authenticate
This will open your browser for OCI Console login and automatically generate the config file.

Add your user OCID to ~/.oci/config: Get your user OCID from the OCI Console: Navigate to: Identity & Security → Users → Click your username → Copy the OCID

Direct link: OCI Console - Users Or use the OCI CLI:

oci iam user list --all

Edit ~/.oci/config and add the user parameter:

[DEFAULT]
region=us-ashburn-1
tenancy=ocid1.tenancy.oc1..example
fingerprint=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
key_file=/Users/yourusername/.oci/sessions/DEFAULT/oci_api_key.pem
security_token_file=/Users/yourusername/.oci/sessions/DEFAULT/token
user=ocid1.user.oc1..example  # Add this line

Run Prowler:
prowler oci

Alternative: Manual API Key Setup

If you prefer to manually generate API keys instead of using browser-based session authentication, see the detailed instructions in the Authentication Guide. Note: Both methods use the same ~/.oci/config file - the difference is that manual setup uses static API keys while session authentication uses temporary session tokens.

Using a Specific Profile

If you have multiple profiles in your OCI config:

prowler oci --profile production

Using a Custom Config File

prowler oci --oci-config-file /path/to/custom/config

Instance Principal Authentication

IMPORTANT: This authentication method only works when Prowler is running inside an OCI compute instance. If you’re running Prowler from your local machine, use OCI Session Authentication instead. When running Prowler on an OCI Compute instance, you can use Instance Principal authentication:

prowler oci --use-instance-principal

Requirements:

Prowler must be running on an OCI compute instance
The compute instance must have a dynamic group and policy allowing access to OCI resources

Example policy:

Allow dynamic-group prowler-instances to inspect all-resources in tenancy
Allow dynamic-group prowler-instances to read all-resources in tenancy

Basic Usage

Scan Entire Tenancy

prowler oci

Scan Specific Region

prowler oci --region us-phoenix-1

Scan Specific Compartments

prowler oci --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..example1 ocid1.compartment.oc1..example2

Run Specific Checks

prowler oci --check identity_password_policy_minimum_length_14

Run Specific Services

prowler oci --service identity network

Compliance Frameworks

Run CIS OCI Foundations Benchmark v3.0:

prowler oci --compliance cis_3.0_oci

Required Permissions

Prowler requires read-only permissions to audit your OCI tenancy. Below are the minimum required permissions:

Tenancy-Level Policy

Create a group prowler-users and add your user to it, then create this policy:

Allow group prowler-users to inspect all-resources in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to read all-resources in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to read audit-events in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to read cloud-guard-config in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to read cloud-guard-problems in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to read cloud-guard-targets in tenancy

Service-Specific Permissions

For more granular control, you can grant specific permissions:

# Identity
Allow group prowler-users to inspect users in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect groups in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect policies in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect authentication-policies in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect dynamic-groups in tenancy

# Networking
Allow group prowler-users to inspect vcns in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect subnets in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect security-lists in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect network-security-groups in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect route-tables in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect dhcp-options in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect internet-gateways in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect nat-gateways in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect service-gateways in tenancy

# Compute
Allow group prowler-users to inspect instances in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect instance-configurations in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect boot-volumes in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect volume-attachments in tenancy

# Storage
Allow group prowler-users to inspect buckets in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect volumes in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect file-systems in tenancy

# Database
Allow group prowler-users to inspect autonomous-databases in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect db-systems in tenancy

# Keys Management
Allow group prowler-users to inspect vaults in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect keys in tenancy

# Monitoring & Events
Allow group prowler-users to read metrics in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect alarms in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect ons-topics in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect ons-subscriptions in tenancy
Allow group prowler-users to inspect rules in tenancy

Output Formats

Prowler supports multiple output formats for OCI:

JSON

prowler oci --output-formats json

CSV

prowler oci --output-formats csv

HTML

prowler oci --output-formats html

Multiple Formats

prowler oci --output-formats json csv html

Common Scenarios

Security Assessment

Full security assessment with CIS compliance:

prowler oci \
  --compliance cis_3.0_oci \
  --output-formats json html \
  --output-directory ./oci-assessment-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Continuous Monitoring

Run specific security-critical checks:

prowler oci \
  --check identity_user_mfa_enabled_console_access \
         network_security_list_ingress_from_internet_to_ssh_port \
         objectstorage_bucket_not_publicly_accessible \
  --output-formats json

Compartment-Specific Audit

Audit a specific project compartment:

prowler oci \
  --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..projecta \
  --profile production \
  --region us-ashburn-1

Troubleshooting

Authentication Issues

Error: “Could not find a valid config file”

Ensure ~/.oci/config exists and is properly formatted
Verify the path to your API key is correct
Check file permissions: chmod 600 ~/.oci/config ~/.oci/oci_api_key.pem

Error: “Invalid key or signature”

Verify the API key fingerprint matches the one in OCI Console
Ensure the public key is uploaded to your OCI user account
Check that the private key file is accessible

Permission Issues

Error: “Authorization failed or requested resource not found”

Verify your user has the required policies (see Required Permissions)
Check that policies apply to the correct compartments
Ensure policies are not restricted by conditions that exclude your user

Region Issues

Error: “Invalid region”

Check available regions: prowler oci --list-regions
Verify your tenancy is subscribed to the region
Use the region identifier (e.g., us-ashburn-1), not the display name

Advanced Usage

Using Mutelist

Create a mutelist file to suppress specific findings:

# oci-mutelist.yaml
Tenancies:
  - "ocid1.tenancy.oc1..example":
      Checks:
        "identity_password_policy_*":
          Regions:
            - "us-ashburn-1"
          Resources:
            - "ocid1.user.oc1..example"

Run with mutelist:

prowler oci --mutelist-file oci-mutelist.yaml

Custom Checks Metadata

Override check metadata:

# custom-metadata.yaml
identity_user_mfa_enabled_console_access:
  Severity: critical
  CheckTitle: "Custom: Ensure MFA is enabled for all console users"

Run with custom metadata:

prowler oci --custom-checks-metadata-file custom-metadata.yaml

Filtering by Status

Only show failed checks:

prowler oci --status FAIL

Filtering by Severity

Only show critical and high severity findings:

prowler oci --severity critical high

Next Steps

Learn about Compliance Frameworks in Prowler
Review Prowler Output Formats
Explore Integrations with SIEM and ticketing systems

​Prowler Cloud

​Step 1: Collect OCI Identifiers

​Step 2: Access Prowler Cloud

​Step 3: Add OCI API Key Credentials

​Prowler CLI

​Prerequisites

​Authentication

​Quick Start: OCI Session Authentication (Recommended)

​Alternative: Manual API Key Setup

Using a Specific Profile

Using a Custom Config File

​Instance Principal Authentication

​Basic Usage

​Scan Entire Tenancy

​Scan Specific Region

​Scan Specific Compartments

​Run Specific Checks

​Run Specific Services

​Compliance Frameworks

​Required Permissions

​Tenancy-Level Policy

​Service-Specific Permissions

​Output Formats

​JSON

​CSV

​HTML

​Multiple Formats

​Common Scenarios

​Security Assessment

​Continuous Monitoring

​Compartment-Specific Audit

​Troubleshooting

​Authentication Issues

​Permission Issues

​Region Issues

​Advanced Usage

​Using Mutelist

​Custom Checks Metadata

​Filtering by Status

​Filtering by Severity

​Next Steps

​Additional Resources