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Running prowler I get [File: utils.py:15] [Module: utils] CRITICAL: path/redacted: OSError[13]

That is an error related to file descriptors or opened files allowed by your operating system. In macOS Ventura, the default value for the file descriptors is 256. With the following command ulimit -n 1000 you’ll increase that value and solve the issue. If you have a different OS and you are experiencing the same, please increase the value of your file descriptors. You can check it running ulimit -a | grep "file descriptors". This error is also related with a lack of system requirements. To improve performance, Prowler stores information in memory so it may need to be run in a system with more than 1GB of memory. See section Logging for further information or contact us.

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Common Issues with Docker Compose Installation

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Problem adding AWS Provider using “Connect assuming IAM Role” in Docker

See GitHub Issue #7745 for more details. When running Prowler App via Docker, you may encounter errors such as Provider not set, AWS assume role error - Unable to locate credentials, or Provider has no secret when trying to add an AWS Provider using the “Connect assuming IAM Role” option. This typically happens because the container does not have access to the necessary AWS credentials or profiles. Workaround:
  • Ensure your AWS credentials and configuration are available to the Docker container. You can do this by mounting your local .aws directory into the container. For example, in your docker-compose.yaml, add the following volume to the relevant services:
volumes:
  - "${HOME}/.aws:/home/prowler/.aws:ro"
This should be added to the api, worker, and worker-beat services.
  • Create or update your ~/.aws/config and ~/.aws/credentials files with the appropriate profiles and roles. For example:
[profile prowler-profile]
role_arn = arn:aws:iam::<account-id>:role/ProwlerScan
source_profile = default
And set the environment variable in your .env file: 
AWS_PROFILE=prowler-profile
  • If you are scanning multiple AWS accounts, you may need to add multiple profiles to your AWS config. Note that this workaround is mainly for local testing; for production or multi-account setups, follow the CloudFormation Template guide and ensure the correct IAM roles and permissions are set up in each account.

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Scans complete but reports are missing or compliance data is empty (Too many open files error)

When running Prowler App via Docker Compose, you may encounter situations where scans complete successfully but reports are not available for download, compliance data shows as empty, or you see 404 errors when trying to access scan reports. Checking the worker container logs may reveal errors like [Errno 24] Too many open files. This issue occurs because the default file descriptor limits in Docker containers are too low for Prowler’s operations. Solution: Add ulimits configuration to the worker and worker-beat services in your docker-compose.yaml: 
services:
  worker:
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 65536
        hard: 65536
    # ... rest of service configuration

  worker-beat:
    ulimits:
      nofile:
        soft: 65536
        hard: 65536
    # ... rest of service configuration
After making these changes, restart your Docker Compose stack: 
docker compose down
docker compose up -d
We are evaluating adding these values to the default docker-compose.yml to avoid this issue in future releases.