Microservices Security Audit

A Microservices Security Audit evaluates the security of an application architecture composed of multiple loosely coupled services, each with its own codebase, data, and responsibilities. Microservices introduce unique risks due to increased attack surface, inter-service communication, distributed trust, and infrastructure complexity.

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🧩 Microservices Security Audit – Checklist Table

#	Category	Control / Audit Item	Evidence / Output
1	Authentication & Authorization	Ensure each service enforces strong auth and proper access controls	JWT/OAuth2 token inspection, RBAC/ABAC mapping
2	Service-to-Service Communication	Use mTLS or service mesh (Istio, Linkerd) to secure internal communication	Network policies, mTLS config, envoy logs
3	API Gateway Security	Check API gateway (e.g., Kong, Ambassador, NGINX) for auth, rate-limiting	Gateway policies, logs, access controls
4	Token and Credential Management	Secrets must be stored securely using vaults (e.g., HashiCorp Vault)	Secrets config audit, environment variable inspection
5	Input Validation	Validate all input at the service level, even from trusted services	Fuzzing logs, code reviews
6	Rate Limiting & Throttling	Ensure rate limiting per service and user to prevent abuse/DOS	API responses, gateway rate-limit config
7	Logging & Monitoring	Logs must be centralized and monitored (e.g., ELK, Fluentd, Prometheus)	Log access evidence, alert configuration
8	Error Handling	Avoid leaking stack traces or sensitive info in internal/external APIs	Error message analysis
9	Container & Image Security	Scan base images and containers for vulnerabilities (e.g., Trivy, Clair)	Vulnerability scan reports
10	Network Segmentation	Use namespaces, security groups, or service meshes for network isolation	Kubernetes NetworkPolicy, VPC rules
11	Secure CI/CD Pipelines	CI/CD must have secrets management, code signing, and image verification	Jenkins/GitLab pipeline audit, signing keys
12	Dependency Management	Scan dependencies in each microservice for known vulnerabilities (SCA)	SBOMs, Snyk or OWASP Dependency-Check reports
13	Data Protection	Apply encryption at rest and in transit; limit data exposure	KMS config, DB encryption settings, traffic analysis
14	Health and Metrics Endpoints	Ensure /health, /metrics are protected and don't expose internals	Endpoint testing results, endpoint access logs
15	Least Privilege Principle	Each service should only access what it needs (scoped permissions)	IAM role review, Kubernetes RBAC audit
16	Container Runtime Security	Limit container capabilities and privilege escalation risks	Docker/K8s config, seccomp, AppArmor, SELinux
17	Patch Management	Containers/images must be regularly updated and patched	Base image version tracking
18	Service Discovery Security	Secure the service discovery mechanism (e.g., Consul, Eureka)	Access control policies, discovery request logs
19	DNS and Naming Risks	Check for spoofable service names, poisoned DNS records	DNS audit logs, static IP mapping
20	Compliance & Governance	Ensure services comply with PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, or ISO standards	Compliance mapping reports

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🧪 Tools Commonly Used

Purpose	Tools
Static/Dynamic Scanning	OWASP ZAP, Burp Suite, Snyk, SonarQube
Container Scanning	Trivy, Clair, Aqua, Anchore
Secrets Management	HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, Doppler
Service Mesh / Communication	Istio, Linkerd, Consul
Monitoring & Logging	Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, Jaeger (tracing)
CI/CD Security	GitLab CI/CD, Jenkins + Vault, OPA for policy enforcement

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📁 Deliverables of a Microservices Security Audit

Document	Description
Risk Register	List of discovered risks with severity and mitigation
Architecture Threat Model	High-level model with attack surface mapping
Audit Report	Detailed findings per service/component
Remediation Plan	Technical steps for fixing vulnerabilities
Compliance Matrix	Mapping to OWASP, NIST SP 800-190, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, etc.
PoC Report (Optional)	Demonstration of critical exploits (e.g., token theft, SSRF, IDOR)

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🔐 Standards to Align With

• OWASP Top 10 & API Top 10
• OWASP Cloud-Native Security Top 10
• NIST SP 800-190 (Application Container Security Guide)
• CIS Kubernetes Benchmarks
• Zero Trust Architecture (NIST SP 800-207)

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Would you like:

• A sample Microservices audit report template (Word/Excel)?
• A Terraform or Kubernetes security checklist?
• A CICD pipeline security hardening guide?

Let me know what you'd like to dig deeper into.