AWS IAM Privilege Escalation Methods vs Cognito Scanner: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
AWS IAM Privilege Escalation Methods is a free penetration testing tool. Cognito Scanner is a free penetration testing tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best penetration testing fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
AWS IAM Privilege Escalation Methods
Penetration testers and cloud security architects validating IAM misconfiguration risk should use AWS IAM Privilege Escalation Methods to map real attack chains before an adversary does; the iam:CreatePolicyVersion technique alone demonstrates a gap most organizations miss in their permission audits. With 923 GitHub stars and active community validation, this documentation has earned credibility where vendor-supplied security guides often gloss over the mechanics. Skip this if your team lacks hands-on AWS policy experience or needs a guided remediation workflow; this is reference material for practitioners who already know what they're looking for.
AWS security teams testing Cognito deployments should use Cognito Scanner because it catches account enumeration and privilege escalation flaws that managed AWS security tools routinely miss. At 109 GitHub stars with zero cost, it's the only tool built specifically to attack Cognito's auth mechanics rather than treating identity as a checkbox in a broader AWS scanner. Skip this if your threat model doesn't include internal or compromised-credential scenarios; Cognito Scanner assumes attackers already have network access and focuses on what they can do once inside.
