How to Mitigate Common Vulnerabilities in Docker Container Security
While creating an application using containers, it is crucial to maintain the integrity and security of containers to develop the application in a streamlined manner. This can be achieved using different strategies, such as periodically updating/scanning the container images to cope up with the faced vulnerabilities, etc.
This blog covers the following aspects:
Why is Docker Vulnerability Mitigation Important?
Sorting out the Docker vulnerability is significant due to the following reasons:
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- Docker environments need vulnerability management to analyze and resolve security issues.
- Strong authentication and role-based access control functionalities make sure that only authorized entities link with the Docker environment.
- Scanning and verifying the image’s authenticity can avoid running containers with malware.
What are the Common Vulnerabilities in Docker Container Security?
Below are some common Docker security risks:
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- Running a Container With Root Permissions.
- Utilizing Insecure Container Registries.
- Malicious Images.
- Unmanaged Resources.
- Lacking Container Monitoring.
How to Mitigate Common Vulnerabilities in Docker Container Security?
The above-stated common vulnerabilities and security risks can be mitigated via the following approaches, respectively:
Solution 1: Refrain from Root Permissions
Executing the Docker container with root permissions is convenient to function in a streamlined manner but there are some limitations for executing containers as root in a production environment.
It is such that the Docker containers don’t execute as root by default, so there is no need to change the default configuration but refrain from allocating root permissions. For instance, while utilizing “Kubernetes”, enhance the security by making a pod security policy with “MustRunAsNonRoot”.
Solution 2: Utilize Secure Container Registries
Container registries enable the developer to download/install container images conveniently from a central repository, making them a risk. Therefore, it is a good practice to stick to trusted registries i.e., “Docker Trusted Registry”.
Also, analyze the security of the utilized registry and install/download it behind a firewall to protect/shield from web-based breaches. Moreover, refrain from notifying anyone to download or upload the container images from the registry.
Solution 3: Scan the Images
Another approach to resolving the security risks in Docker Container can be to secure the Docker images with periodic vulnerability scans. Also, scan all the downloaded/installed images and continue scanning them to reduce the exposure.
This scanning keeps the images updated by checking if the installed version is updated or not and comparing the images as well. For instance, the below cmdlet overviews the image:
Solution 4: Utilize the Resources Effectively
Docker enables the developer to allocate the resources for each container, i.e., CPU resource consumption. This resource allocation assists in enhancing and securing the Docker environment, thereby preventing a single container from consuming multiple system resources.
Solution 5: Monitor the Docker Containers
Monitoring also plays a key role in coping with the vulnerabilities in the Docker container’s security. Monitoring can be tricky in a containerized app. Therefore, specialized container monitoring tools can assist in viewing and observing the containerized workloads.
Conclusion
The common vulnerabilities and security risks in Docker Container Security include malicious images, and unmanaged resources, and can be mitigated by refraining from root permissions, utilizing secure container registries, scanning the images, utilizing the resources effectively, or monitoring the Docker containers. This guide demonstrated how to mitigate common vulnerabilities in Docker container security.
Source: linuxhint.com