5.15 Do not share the host's process namespace

Information

Process ID (PID) namespaces isolate the process ID number space, meaning that processes
in different PID namespaces can have the same PID. This is process level isolation between
containers and the host.PID namespace provides separation of processes. The PID Namespace removes the view of
the system processes, and allows process ids to be reused including PID 1. If the host's PID
namespace is shared with the container, it would basically allow processes within the
container to see all of the processes on the host system. This breaks the benefit of process
level isolation between the host and the containers. Someone having access to the
container can eventually know all the processes running on the host system and can even
kill the host system processes from within the container. This can be catastrophic. Hence,
do not share the host's process namespace with the containers.

Solution

Do not start a container with '--pid=host' argument.For example, do not start a container as below-docker run --interactive --tty --pid=host centos /bin/bashImpact-Container processes cannot see the processes on the host system. In certain cases, you
want your container to share the host's process namespace. For example, you could build a
container with debugging tools like strace or gdb, but want to use these tools when
debugging processes within the container. If this is desired, then share only one (or
needed) host process by using the '-p' switch.For example,docker run --pid=host rhel7 strace -p 1234Default Value-By default, all containers have the PID namespace enabled and the host's process
namespace is not shared with the containers.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/517

Item Details

Category: SYSTEM AND COMMUNICATIONS PROTECTION

References: 800-53|SC-39

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: 063ecee2053251a77f203b7e76881d7a2aebf706cb4c8d78b1d93beaa0460493