Seccomp security profiles for Docker

Secure computing mode (seccomp) is a Linux kernel feature. You can use it to restrict the actions available within the container. The seccomp() system call operates on the seccomp state of the calling process. You can use this feature to restrict your application's access.

This feature is available only if Docker has been built with seccomp and the kernel is configured with CONFIG_SECCOMP enabled. To check if your kernel supports seccomp:

$ grep CONFIG_SECCOMP= /boot/config-$(uname -r)
CONFIG_SECCOMP=y

Pass a profile for a container

The default seccomp profile provides a sane default for running containers with seccomp and disables around 44 system calls out of 300+. It is moderately protective while providing wide application compatibility. The default Docker profile can be found here.

In effect, the profile is an allowlist which denies access to system calls by default, then allowlists specific system calls. The profile works by defining a defaultAction of SCMP_ACT_ERRNO and overriding that action only for specific system calls. The effect of SCMP_ACT_ERRNO is to cause a Permission Denied error. Next, the profile defines a specific list of system calls which are fully allowed, because their action is overridden to be SCMP_ACT_ALLOW. Finally, some specific rules are for individual system calls such as personality, and others, to allow variants of those system calls with specific arguments.

seccomp is instrumental for running Docker containers with least privilege. It is not recommended to change the default seccomp profile.

When you run a container, it uses the default profile unless you override it with the --security-opt option. For example, the following explicitly specifies a policy:

$ docker run --rm \
             -it \
             --security-opt seccomp=/path/to/seccomp/profile.json \
             hello-world

Significant syscalls blocked by the default profile

Docker's default seccomp profile is an allowlist which specifies the calls that are allowed. The table below lists the significant (but not all) syscalls that are effectively blocked because they are not on the Allowlist. The table includes the reason each syscall is blocked rather than white-listed.

Run without the default seccomp profile

You can pass unconfined to run a container without the default seccomp profile.

$ docker run --rm -it --security-opt seccomp=unconfined debian:jessie \
    unshare --map-root-user --user sh -c whoami