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What are the added security risks of using a dockerized container to deploy a production server?

Not interested in risks that would exist anyway in deploying a production server the traditional way,but only to risks potentially added from the use of a dockerized deployment. Note the user active within the container is different than root and is one that doesnt have rights to install anything or make changes outside their given working directory. Assume that our image is build directly from an official OS image, and all other software installed is hash checked and that we will only install on it the bare minimum needed to run our web app.

Also, what are some good practices that should be followed when setting up such a server through Docker to ensure maximum security?

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    I suggest you read a Docker documentation for questions like that. This question is a bit broad. Try to specify your concerns.
    – Tom K.
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 8:35
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    This just popped up with a short search as well: devops.stackexchange.com/questions/1943/… You might ask there for further guidance.
    – Tom K.
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 8:40
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    @Tom this is as specific as it gets to be honest, security in a specific context of docker user for a specific purpose. About the DevOps SE, didnt know that one exist, that thread seems promising, I ll take a look.
    – Leon
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 8:52
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    See here: docs.docker.com/engine/security/security
    – Thomas Carlisle
    Commented Sep 7, 2017 at 12:25

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Regarding the point of the good practices for Docker deployments, you can run the CIS Docker Benchmark which performs a set of automatic tests to guarantee that the CIS Docker Guidelines are compliant in your Docker containers. You can get these guides for free at: https://www.cisecurity.org/cis-benchmarks/

This can give you a good overview of the things you can tweak in your Docker config to improve security and also learn a lot of things that you probably haven't heard before about Docker (at least that was my case).

Also the official Docker documentation has a quite good document related to securing Docker containers. You can find it here: Introduction to Container Security

Keep in mind that some of the settings may be quite restrictive (with the impact that this may have) and also some recommendations are based on very new and likely unstable features. Here you have to determine the balance between security/usuability as usual.

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    Thanks, that is very informative and you do bring a good point, too much security is bad security and this applies here also. Along with the links in the comments(by Tom and Thomas), I think I now have a very good overview of what to expect and what to look for !
    – Leon
    Commented Sep 8, 2017 at 8:11

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