In this container vulnerability scanning article we are going to talk about 7 container vulnerability scanning tools that you can check.
Containers have facilitated the development and DevOps teams to fasten the process of application development and delivery. It is being used worldwide as a source of packaging and deploying applications. However, with the use of these containers, the occurrence of malware has increased. There are chances of loss of visibility and control for the teams that are deploying and managing them. Since this trend of container adoption continues to grow, it has developed a need for container security as they have a bundle of applications with a lot of software and files. If any one of the containers breaks out there is a chance of unauthorized access across the container. Securing containers is the top priority for DevOps engineers.
The development of the container vulnerability scanning tools has allowed the protection of cloud-native applications by minimizing the attack surface, detecting vulnerabilities, embedded secrets, and other security issues. They work by gaining information into the vulnerability postures and hierarchize the clean-up and reduction of the contextual risk.
7 container vulnerability scanning tools:
1. Anchore
This container vulnerability scanning tool allows its users to update their policies in order to keep their software secure, obtain in-depth information with their analysis of the container images, and provide capabilities of strong governance and compliance.
Anchore also certifies whether a docker is secured or not by utilizing the docker image. If the user submits a docker image to the anchor, it can analyze and provide the details of any present vulnerabilities. Not only that, it also provides information and customized checks on image secrets and exposed ports. It seamlessly integrates with the CI/CD pipeline to find security breaches. Also, it provides a deep examination of Os packages and software artifacts.
Anchore provides detailed security reports including the common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) that can be viewed and allows the user to get an idea of what packages trigger the vulnerability notifications. Also, Images used for the scanning can be marked as favorites for faster access to them.
2. Clair
Clair is an open-source project that is publicly accessible. It is an API driven analysis engine that offers vulnerability scanning and static security for the application containers.
It deeply examines the security flaws present in the container. The user can use Clair for building services that can be used for continuous scanning of the container for any vulnerabilities. It alerts the user for any potential threat in the container based on various databases including the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure database (CVE). In case of any treated or identified issue that is already present in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), Clair will provide the user with an HTML report with all the details.
Furthermore, it scans for the existing vulnerabilities and ensures that they are not there in the future. It updates the metadata on a regular basis.
3. Openscap
SCAP stands for Security Content Automation Protocol. It ensures automated measurement, vulnerability management, and policy compliance evaluation using certain standards. Open SCAP is an example of SCAP implementation. OpenSCAP provides a set of tools that can be used for scanning, automated vulnerability checking, compliance management, etc. It allows you to take preventive measures before any attack can happen.
4. Sysdig Falco
Sysdig Falco is an open-source container vulnerability scanner tool. It is a security monitor and a threat detection engine that is designed specifically to detect any extraneous activities in the application, host, and network activity. It continuously examines the container and detects any unexpected behavior and notifies about the threats prior to any attack.
Falco uses tcpdump like syntax to build the rules and leverages libraries such as libscap and libinsp which have the ability to go in and extract data from the Kubernetes API server or the container runtime environment.
This metadata can be used by the user to get about pods and labels and namespaces for the synthesis of rules that are specific to a particular namespace or a particular container image. These rules center on the system calls and what system calls are allowed and restricted on the system.
5. Aqua
Aqua Security is a security tool that safeguards the applications that are built using cloud-native technologies like containers. It allows for vulnerability scanning and management for orchestrators like Kubernetes.
It is a comprehensive security platform built to guarantee that the applications running on the containers are safe and that they are running in a secure environment. Aqua security scans the images developed by the developers and ensures that those images are clean and do not have any vulnerabilities in them. Also, they do not have any known passwords or secrets, and no security threats that can make an image vulnerable. Furthermore, it protects any outside image to run in your environment.
6. Cilium
Cilium is a security tool for securing network connectivity. It is compatible with other Linux container platforms such as Docker and Kubernetes. It controls logic and adds security visibility.
Cilium is powered by a Linux network technology known as the BPF (Berkeley packet filter). It ensures a low-level implementation and allows all the users to update Cilium security policies without having to change the application code or container configurations. This security tool allows for a proficient and simple way to enforce both the application layer and network layer security policies based on the container/pod identity.
7. Notary
The Notary security tool is made up of a server and a client for operating and interacting with the trusted collection. The basic aim of this tool is to make the internet secure and safe by making it easy for people to publish and verify the content.
Using Notary, the publishers can sign their content offline using highly secured keys. When the publisher is ready to make their content available online, they can push their trusted collection to a Notary Server. Only consumers who have acquired the publisher’s public key through a secured channel, can communicate with any notary server. The consumer can rely on the publisher’s key to find out the validity and integrity of the received content.