Performing Serverless Function Security Review

Performing Serverless Function Security Review

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for performing serverless function security review. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "performing serverless function security review"

• "Performing security reviews of serverless functions across AWS Lambda, Azure Fun"

• When auditing serverless applications before production deployment

• When investigating potential data exposure through function environment variables or logs

• When assessing the blast radius of a compromised serverless function execution role

• When compliance reviews require documentation of serverless security controls

• When building secure-by-default templates for serverless deployments

Do not use for container or VM security assessments (use container scanning tools), for API security testing (use DAST tools on the API Gateway layer), or for real-time serverless threat detection (use AWS Lambda Extensions with security agents).

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• AWS CLI, Azure CLI, and gcloud CLI configured with appropriate permissions
• Access to read function configurations, policies, and execution roles
• Prowler or Checkov for automated serverless security scanning
• SAM CLI or Serverless Framework for local function analysis
• CloudTrail, Azure Monitor, or Cloud Audit Logs enabled for function invocation monitoring

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def extract_iocs(text: str) -> dict:
    return {k: re.findall(v, text) for k, v in IOC_PATTERNS.items()}

1. Plan Operations — Define objectives, scope, and success criteria for serverless function security review operations.
2. Prepare Environment — Set up tools, access, and data sources required for serverless function security review.
3. Execute Core Workflow — Perform the serverless function security review operations following established procedures.
4. Validate Results — Verify that results meet quality standards and objectives.
5. Report Findings — Document results, observations, and recommendations.
6. Follow Up — Track remediation actions and verify fixes where applicable.

Tools

• Analysis Platform — Data processing and visualization
• Collaboration Tools — Team coordination and knowledge sharing

Process

1. Reconnaissance — Gather target information, identify attack surface, enumerate services
2. Analysis/Exploitation — Execute the technique, analyze results, document findings
3. Reporting — Document IOCs, write findings, provide remediation recommendations

Verification

• All serverless function security review procedures executed completely and documented
• Findings validated against multiple data sources
• False positives identified and filtered
• Results documented with evidence and timestamps
• Recommendations provided with risk-based prioritization

Anti-Rationalization Table