What is container security, why is it difficult, and how can you do it correctly?

Container security: What it is, why it’s tricky, and how to do it right

What is container security?

Container security is securing container-based workloads using security technologies, methods, and rules. Container security serves two purposes:

• Secure the image of the container. When creating containerized apps, application developers frequently use open-source software. In fact, according to market research firm Forrester, the average container image contains 70% open-source software. Unfortunately, open-source software is frequently riddled with security flaws. Developers must find and fix these flaws to protect their applications adequately.
• Configure container runtime security. To work correctly, containers must be capable of communicating with one another and with network services. Containers must, however, be appropriately segregated from one other and the host system to be secure. Containers can readily become compromised sites for corporate networks if they are run with privileged flags or receive knowledge about host processes. Managing Linux namespaces, cgroups, and access controls are vital for container security.

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Why is container security tricky?

Securing container runtime configuration is the more straightforward of the two aims described above. Many effective security solutions have that capability, and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) has clear and prescriptive benchmarks.
It’s more challenging to ensure that your container images are secure, mainly when they rely heavily on open-source components. To discover software vulnerabilities, four types of tools are widely used:

• In development environments, source-code tests are utilized. 
• After the container image has been generated, image scanners are being used. 
• Scanners for networks that look at systems from the “outside.” 
• Detectors that look at the container from the “inside” at runtime 

Let’s take a look at each one.

Source code evaluations

Software Composition Analysis (SCA) and Static Application Security Test (SAST) tools are products that check source code before the container is constructed. The main difference is that the SCA tools can only detect vulnerabilities in open-source code. In contrast, the SAST tools can also detect vulnerabilities in custom code.

Although some SCA and SAST suppliers have automated their solutions to keep up with the quick pace of modern DevOps teams, many remain slow and inefficient. In fact, according to our recent CISO survey, 28% of CISOs said that application teams occasionally skip these types of checks to speed up delivery.

Another issue is that these security products are prone to generating many false positives. Only 42% of application vulnerability alerts generated by these types of technologies required action, according to the CISOs who took part in our survey; the rest were false positives. False positives are a complete waste of effort. Both security professionals and developers find them highly aggravating.

Despite their shortcomings, the SCA and SAST technologies play critical roles in container security. SCA tools, for example, will inform you about the license constraints connected with open-source software, whereas SAST tools will tell you about security flaws in custom code. Both of these functions are critical.

Scanners for images
​Once a container image is created, it is usually stored in a registry until required. You can detect known susceptible packages in the container by looking at the various packages contained within the image and running a build dependency analysis to see if made any new dependencies during the build process.

Most Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPPs) and popular image scanners like Anchore and Clair work in this manner.

The incredible thing is that this type of test is typically highly automated, so developers don’t have to spend much time on it. However, it suffers from the same false-positive issue that most SCA and SAST tools have (see above).

Scanners for the network

Traditional network-based scanners are recognizable to most business security teams since they have been around for a long time—much before containers existed. Qualys, Rapid7, and Tenable are just a few well-known providers.

These products look at systems from the “outside”—from the attacker’s point of view. They can provide detailed information about vulnerabilities in host operating systems, application frameworks, and network devices such as switches and routers. They can tell you which ports are open and whether or not encryption is employed. However, they can’t tell you anything about source-code vulnerabilities inside a container. Traditional vulnerability scanners can’t see through containers.

As a result, traditional vulnerability scanners are no longer fit for purpose in today’s cloud-native world, according to 74 percent of CISOs in our recent CISO survey.

Vulnerability detectors that work in real-time
​A runtime vulnerability detector, which uses an agent to monitor the behavior of the processes inside the operating container, is the new kid on the block. The agent keeps track of each cycle when it imports a file or calls a function provided by an open-source library. The security agent can avoid false positives caused by vulnerable libraries that are present but not utilized by the application or not used in a way that exposes a vulnerability in this fashion.

A math library, for example, can be used for a variety of functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and logging. Let’s pretend the multiplication function has a flaw, but the other parts don’t. The sheer presence of the library inside the container will trigger an alarm from an SCA tool or an image scanner. However, a runtime agent that monitors the container’s behavior can further notify you whether the multiplication function is being utilized. This level of detail can save developers and security professionals time by preventing them from wasting time addressing something that isn’t broken.

Isn’t it fantastic?

Best practices for container security

Container security isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution; it’s a multi-step process that begins with the construction of the container, then moves on to analyzing its contents and configuration, and runtime evaluation and risk analysis. May find a checklist of best practices for container security here.

• Keep your weight down. Developers must eliminate unnecessary components from an application’s attack surface to decrease it. 
• Use just the most reliable foundation images. Developers should only be able to utilize photos that have been scanned and verified to be trustworthy as part of your CI/CD process. 
• Make the host operating system more secure. Can use scripts to configure hosts depending on the CIS benchmarks appropriately. Consider utilizing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host or CoreOS, lightweight Linux editions created exclusively for hosting containers. 
• Should remove privileges. Running privileged containers is a security issue since it gives a hostile user the ability to take control of the host system, putting your entire infrastructure at risk. 
• Organize your secrets. To avoid being discovered, must handle secrets such as database credentials, API keys, SSL keys, and encryption keys. Consider adopting one of the numerous decent commercially available secret management systems. 
• Test the source code. Although legacy SCA and SAST tools can be slow and inconvenient, many have evolved to support DevOps and automation projects in recent years. They remain a crucial aspect of container security. To keep track of open-source software, undesirable licensing restrictions, and vulnerabilities in custom code, use one or more of these standard application security tests. 
• Keep an eye on the app while it’s running. Use a runtime vulnerability detection tool to eliminate the problem of false-positive detections outlined above. It can also aid in the monitoring and management of application performance, reliability, and other metrics and the detection of vulnerabilities.

You really want to know about container risks, not vulnerabilities

Knowing the Davis Security Score, which represents the relative business risk of each vulnerability, allows you to prioritize remedial operations effectively. The Davis Security Advisor takes it a step further by advising which *libraries* pose the most significant business risk and thus which should be updated first. Often, a single library contains a vast number of vulnerabilities that affect several applications.

Container security becomes a workflow and execution challenge if you’ve accurately defined priorities and eliminated false positives. To make this process more efficient, follow these steps:

• Based on tags that you define, it automatically determines which of your developers is responsible for resolving each vulnerability. It allows you to assign tickets automatically in systems like Jira.
• It saves developers time by automatically identifying the required upgrades and potential remedies for each vulnerability.
• When an application eliminates a vulnerability, it is detected in real-time, and priority lists are automatically updated.

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