DevOps Intermediate
Distroless Container Images¶
DockerDistrolessSecurityContainerization 5 min read
Minimalistic container images without OS. Maximum security, minimal attack surface.
What are Distroless Images¶
Distroless images from Google don’t contain package manager, shell or system utilities. Only application and runtime dependencies.
- No shell — attacker can’t run bash
- No package manager — apt/apk doesn’t exist
- Minimal CVE — fewer packages = fewer vulnerabilities
- Small size — static image ~2 MB
Available Base Images¶
# Static (Go, Rust, C++ statically linked)
gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12
# Base (dynamically linked C/C++)
gcr.io/distroless/base-debian12
# Java
gcr.io/distroless/java21-debian12
# Python
gcr.io/distroless/python3-debian12
# Node.js
gcr.io/distroless/nodejs20-debian12
# All have :nonroot variant
gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12:nonroot
Debugging¶
Without shell, debugging is difficult. Use :debug tag or ephemeral containers.
# Debug tag (contains busybox shell)
FROM gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12:debug
# Ephemeral containers in K8s
kubectl debug -it pod/myapp --image=busybox --target=app
Summary¶
Distroless images are the gold standard for production containers. Minimal attack surface and zero shell access significantly improve security.
Need Help with Implementation?¶
Our team has experience designing and implementing modern architectures. We’re happy to help.