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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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I often read that (docker) containers are not good for security. What are secure methods of creating secure isolated environments to run questionable programs in? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by cyclohexane@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I've read that standard containers are optimized for developer productivity and not security, which makes sense.

But then what would be ideal to use for security? Suppose I want to isolate environments from each other for security purposes, to run questionable programs or reduce attack surface. What are some secure solutions?

Something without the performance hit of VMs

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[–] steph@lemmy.clueware.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

All recent CPUs have native virtualization support, so there's close to no performance hit on VMs.

That being said, even a VM is subject to exploits and malicious code could break out of the VM down to its hypervisor.

The only secure way of running suspicious programs starts with an air-gaped machine, a cheap hdd/ssd that will go straight under the hammer as soon as testing is complete. And I'd be wondering even after that if maybe the BIOS might have been compromised.

On a lower level of paranoia and/or threat, a VM on an up-to-date hypervisor with a snapshot taken before doing anything questionable should be enough. You'd then only have to fear a zero day exploit of said hypervisor.

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Each VM needs a complete OS, though. Even at 100% efficiency, that's still a whole kernel+userspace just idling around and a bunch of caches, loaded libraries, etc. Docker is much more efficient in that regard.

[–] Saik0Shinigami@lemmy.saik0.com 1 points 1 year ago

And LXC even more efficient in that regard.

Docker does load a bunch of stuff that most people don't need for their project.

I don't know why LXC is always the red-headed stepchild. It works wonderfully.