Essential Docker Security Checklist

Essential Docker Security Checklist

Container security requires attention across multiple layers, from host systems to application code. This comprehensive checklist summarizes critical security controls that every organization should implement. Regular assessment against this checklist helps maintain security posture as deployments evolve. Security teams should customize these controls based on specific risk profiles and compliance requirements.

The following checklist organizes security controls by implementation phase, making it easier to integrate security throughout the container lifecycle. Each control includes both the requirement and validation method, enabling teams to verify proper implementation. Organizations should treat this as a minimum baseline, adding additional controls based on their specific threats and requirements.

# Docker Security Implementation Checklist
# Use this as a baseline for security assessments

container_security_checklist:
  image_security:
    - control: "Use minimal base images (Alpine, distroless)"
      validation: "Image size < 100MB for most applications"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Scan all images for vulnerabilities"
      validation: "CI/CD pipeline includes automated scanning"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "Sign and verify all images"
      validation: "Docker Content Trust or similar enabled"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "No secrets in images"
      validation: "Secret scanning in CI/CD passes"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "Regular base image updates"
      validation: "Base images rebuilt monthly minimum"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Multi-stage builds for production images"
      validation: "Dockerfile uses multi-stage pattern"
      priority: medium

  runtime_security:
    - control: "Run containers as non-root user"
      validation: "USER directive in Dockerfile or runtime config"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "Read-only root filesystem"
      validation: "readOnlyRootFilesystem: true in configs"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Drop all capabilities by default"
      validation: "CAP_DROP: ALL in security context"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Use AppArmor or SELinux profiles"
      validation: "Security profiles applied to containers"
      priority: medium
      
    - control: "Apply seccomp profiles"
      validation: "Custom or default seccomp enabled"
      priority: medium
      
    - control: "Resource limits on all containers"
      validation: "CPU and memory limits defined"
      priority: high

  network_security:
    - control: "Default deny network policies"
      validation: "NetworkPolicy objects deployed"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Encrypted inter-container communication"
      validation: "mTLS or service mesh with encryption"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Network segmentation by application"
      validation: "Separate networks/namespaces per app"
      priority: medium
      
    - control: "No privileged ports (<1024)"
      validation: "Applications use high ports only"
      priority: low

  orchestration_security:
    - control: "RBAC enabled with least privilege"
      validation: "Role bindings follow least privilege"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "Pod Security Standards enforced"
      validation: "PSS or PSP configured per namespace"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Admission controllers configured"
      validation: "OPA or similar policy enforcement"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Audit logging enabled"
      validation: "Audit logs captured and analyzed"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "etcd encryption at rest"
      validation: "Encryption configuration verified"
      priority: high

  secrets_management:
    - control: "External secrets management"
      validation: "HashiCorp Vault or cloud provider KMS"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "Secrets rotation implemented"
      validation: "Automated rotation for all secrets"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "No environment variable secrets"
      validation: "Secrets mounted as files only"
      priority: medium
      
    - control: "Encryption in transit for secrets"
      validation: "TLS for all secret communications"
      priority: high

  monitoring_and_compliance:
    - control: "Runtime security monitoring"
      validation: "Falco or similar tool deployed"
      priority: high
      
    - control: "Centralized logging"
      validation: "All container logs aggregated"
      priority: critical
      
    - control: "Security metrics dashboard"
      validation: "Key security metrics visible"
      priority: medium
      
    - control: "Compliance scanning automation"
      validation: "CIS benchmark scans scheduled"
      priority: medium
      
    - control: "Incident response runbooks"
      validation: "Container-specific IR procedures"
      priority: high