2 Answers
As I understand it today, you need at least one of the Assoc. certifications to take any of the Specialty certification exams.
https://aws.amazon.com/certification/certified-security-specialty/
Examination Prerequisite
You must hold either an Associate or Cloud Practitioner certification to take this exam.
The cloud practitioner will not help you to pass this exam, cloud practitioner is too simple
yes you need an associate in one of those three.
not anymore https://d1.awsstatic.com/training-and-certification/eligibilityupdates/AWS%20Certified%20Security%20Specialty_Exam%20Guide_v1.6_FINAL.pdf