What is Container Runtime Security?

Topics DevSecOps Container Runtime Security

Definition

Container runtime security is the protection of running containers against active threats, such as the execution of malicious code and the escalation of privileges within a container or the system hosting it.

Overview

By providing capabilities designed specifically for detecting security risks in running containers, container runtime security helps organizations identify and address major vulnerabilities that they may otherwise not notice. Runtime Security solutions do this by establishing the parameters for  normal behavior in live environments in order to detect anomalous behavior that might be due to a security vulnerability.

Container runtime security refers to practices and tools that detect and mitigate security risks in running containers. The purpose of container runtime security is to ensure that “live” containerized applications – as opposed to container images, which are the static files  are secure.

How Container Runtime Security works

Runtime security typically works by monitoring the behavior of running containers and looking for anomalies – such as unusual system calls, attempts to access resources not normally used by the container, or the creation of unexpected processes.

Container runtime environments may include dozens or even hundreds of containers that are constantly changing. This makes risk analysis based on simplistic static modeling insufficient.  To provide more effective results, runtime risk detection leverages dynamic risk assessment capabilities that make it possible to identify anomalies, even amidst constant change.

Runtime Security aims to understand normal behavior and detect anomalous behavior by analyzing behavioral patterns and criteria across the runtime environment, ensuring real-time protection and rapid response to potential threats. An example of this might be, a runtime security tool might monitor the behavior of a container over time, recording changes to its operations as its network traffic and resource consumption fluctuate. Based on this data, the tool would be able to detect activity that does not correlate with normal operations – such as a sudden spike in memory usage that cannot be explained by an increase in requests. The tool would flag this behavior as a possible security risk.

Leading Container Runtime Threats

Examples of issues that container runtime security tools would typically uncover include:

  • Anomalous patterns: Malicious code within a container is often missed by other security tools such as container image scanners, as opposed to runtime security tools whose detection is based on looking for unusual code execution patterns or malware signatures.
  • Configuration drift: Changes to configuration settings within a live container that create security risks, such as the opening of an insecure network port. These risks cannot be detected by other scanning tools because they do not exist until the container is actually running and an admin manually modifies its configuration.
  • Privilege escalation: Privilege escalation attacks, which occur when malicious users elevate the privileges of a container in a way that allows the container (or users who have access to it) to interact with resources or perform actions that should not be available to them. Here again, these attacks are impossible to detect based on container image scanning because the attacks do not occur until runtime. Although in some cases, image scanners may be effective at detecting container configuration issues or vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit to escalate privileges.
  • Insecure data management: Insecure management of sensitive data due to practices like failure to encrypt information that containers share with each other over the network.
  • Host vulnerabilities: Vulnerabilities in the operating system that hosts the container or in the container runtime software that executes containers. Threat actors could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of containers or escalate privileges.

Runtime Security’s Role in Container Security

Runtime risks are only one of several security issues that can impact containers, and container runtime security solutions are just one of several security tools that organizations typically use to protect containerized applications. Other key types of protections and capabilities include:

  • Container image scanners: Image scanners analyze container images for malware and insecure configurations prior to deployment.
  • Container registries: When properly configured, registries provide secure repositories for storing and distributing container images.
  • Infrastructure scanning and configuration management solutions: This category, which includes types of tools such as Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM), helps secure the infrastructure and services used to deploy containers.

Each of these solutions helps to mitigate security issues that may arise during the process of developing, building, and deploying containers. However, they are not effective at detecting risks that are not apparent until containers are actually running. That is the purview of container runtime security tools.

For example, a container might contain malware that isn’t identifiable based on a static container image, but does become detectable once a container is running. Only runtime security tools can monitor the behavior of the container to detect malicious activity once it is running.

The SDLC is a structured process for developing and maintaining software applications, encompassing all phases of software development, deployment, and maintenance. Runtime security, which focuses on protecting applications while they are running in production environments, is a critical component that fits into the deployment and maintenance phases by monitoring for vulnerabilities, detecting and mitigating attacks, and ensuring real-time security.

While the industry has embraced the “shift left” concept of integrating security practices at  earlier stages of development, a comprehensive solution must also include a “shift right” approach as embodied by runtime security. The synergy between these practices is what really brings end-to-end security to software development environments.

Responsibility for Container Runtime Security

Typically, the primary responsibility for discovering runtime security risks falls to both the operations and security teams.

That said, remediating runtime security risks often requires collaboration with software developers, who bear responsibility for fixing the underlying issues within application code or container images that create runtime security risks. They may also need to rebuild the images after addressing the risks.

In this respect, runtime security is a prime example of a type of activity that works best when businesses adopt a DevSecOps strategy – meaning one where developers, operations teams, and security teams work seamlessly together.

If operations teams are expected to manage runtime security on their own, it may not affect their ability to detect  runtime vulnerabilities,  but it will certainly have a negative impact on their ability to coordinate with development in providing a fix in a timely and efficient manner.

Kubernetes and Container Runtime Security

Most containers are deployed into production using an orchestrator like Kubernetes, which helps manage containers running across a cluster of servers.

Kubernetes introduces additional services and configurations into the runtime environment, which also means it creates additional potential risks – such as software vulnerabilities within the Kubernetes control plane that attackers could exploit or insecure Kubernetes network settings.

Earlier, container runtime security solutions didn’t address these risks because they were designed to secure the containers themselves, not Kubernetes. But now that Kubernetes has become the de facto solution for deploying containers at scale, it’s important in most cases to choose a container runtime security solution that can monitor for threats inside Kubernetes in addition to monitoring the behavior of individual containers.

Securing Containers from Code to Runtime with JFrog

By providing a broad set of container security capabilities – including container image scanning  using JFrog Xray, secure image hosting with JFrog Artifactory, and runtime protection through JFrog Runtime Security – JFrog helps keep your containers and runtime environment secure across all stages of the SDLC.

For more information, please visit our website, take a virtual tour, or set up a one-on-one demo at your convenience.

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