Compliance Review

When to Use

• Reviewing PRs that add new compliance frameworks
• Reviewing PRs that modify existing compliance frameworks
• Validating compliance framework JSON structure before merge

---

Review Checklist (Critical)

Check	Command/Method	Pass Criteria
JSON Valid	python3 -m json.tool file.json	No syntax errors
All Checks Exist	Run validation script	0 missing checks
No Duplicate IDs	Run validation script	0 duplicate requirement IDs
Changelog fragment	Manual review	Fragment present under prowler/changelog.d/
Dashboard File	Compare with existing	Follows established pattern
Framework Metadata	Manual review	All required fields populated

---

Commands

# 1. Validate JSON syntax
python3 -m json.tool prowler/compliance/{provider}/{framework}.json > /dev/null \
  && echo "Valid JSON" || echo "INVALID JSON"

# 2. Run full validation script
python3 skills/prowler-compliance-review/assets/validate_compliance.py \
  prowler/compliance/{provider}/{framework}.json

# 3. Compare dashboard with existing (find similar framework)
diff dashboard/compliance/{new_framework}.py \
     dashboard/compliance/{existing_framework}.py

---

Decision Tree

JSON Valid?
├── No → FAIL: Fix JSON syntax errors
└── Yes ↓
    All Checks Exist in Codebase?
    ├── Missing checks → FAIL: Add missing checks or remove from framework
    └── All exist ↓
        Duplicate Requirement IDs?
        ├── Yes → FAIL: Fix duplicate IDs
        └── No ↓
            Changelog Fragment Present?
            ├── No → REQUEST CHANGES: Add changelog fragment
            └── Yes ↓
                Dashboard File Follows Pattern?
                ├── No → REQUEST CHANGES: Fix dashboard pattern
                └── Yes ↓
                    Framework Metadata Complete?
                    ├── No → REQUEST CHANGES: Add missing metadata
                    └── Yes → APPROVE

---

Framework Structure Reference

Compliance frameworks are JSON files in: prowler/compliance/{provider}/{framework}.json

{
  "Framework": "CIS",
  "Name": "CIS Provider Benchmark vX.Y.Z",
  "Version": "X.Y",
  "Provider": "AWS|Azure|GCP|...",
  "Description": "Framework description...",
  "Requirements": [
    {
      "Id": "1.1",
      "Description": "Requirement description",
      "Checks": ["check_name_1", "check_name_2"],
      "Attributes": [
        {
          "Section": "1 Section Name",
          "SubSection": "1.1 Subsection (optional)",
          "Profile": "Level 1|Level 2",
          "AssessmentStatus": "Automated|Manual",
          "Description": "...",
          "RationaleStatement": "...",
          "ImpactStatement": "...",
          "RemediationProcedure": "...",
          "AuditProcedure": "...",
          "AdditionalInformation": "...",
          "References": "...",
          "DefaultValue": "..."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

---

Common Issues

Issue	How to Detect	Resolution
Missing checks	Validation script reports missing	Add check implementation or remove from Checks array
Duplicate IDs	Validation script reports duplicates	Ensure each requirement has unique ID
Empty Checks for Automated	AssessmentStatus is Automated but Checks is empty	Add checks or change to Manual
Wrong file location	Framework not in prowler/compliance/{provider}/	Move to correct directory
Missing dashboard file	No corresponding dashboard/compliance/{framework}.py	Create dashboard file following pattern
Changelog fragment missing	No fragment file in the PR diff	Add a fragment under prowler/changelog.d/

---

Dashboard File Pattern

Dashboard files must be in dashboard/compliance/ and follow this exact pattern:

import warnings

from dashboard.common_methods import get_section_containers_cis

warnings.filterwarnings("ignore")


def get_table(data):

    aux = data[
        [
            "REQUIREMENTS_ID",
            "REQUIREMENTS_DESCRIPTION",
            "REQUIREMENTS_ATTRIBUTES_SECTION",
            "CHECKID",
            "STATUS",
            "REGION",
            "ACCOUNTID",
            "RESOURCEID",
        ]
    ].copy()

    return get_section_containers_cis(
        aux, "REQUIREMENTS_ID", "REQUIREMENTS_ATTRIBUTES_SECTION"
    )

---

Testing the Compliance Framework

After validation passes, test the framework with Prowler:

# Verify framework is detected
uv run python prowler-cli.py {provider} --list-compliance | grep {framework}

# Run a quick test with a single check from the framework
uv run python prowler-cli.py {provider} --compliance {framework} --check {check_name}

# Run full compliance scan (dry-run with limited checks)
uv run python prowler-cli.py {provider} --compliance {framework} --checks-limit 5

# Generate compliance report in multiple formats
uv run python prowler-cli.py {provider} --compliance {framework} -M csv json html

---

Resources

• Validation Script: See assets/validate_compliance.py
• Related Skills: See prowler-compliance for creating frameworks
• Documentation: See references/review-checklist.md