CIS

Throughout this guide, we break down the deployment and configuration of the CIS policy with the following sections:

Introduction
Deployment
Configure

Current CIS policy pack version: Anchore CIS Docker Benchmark V1.6.0 v20241001

Introduction

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) provides prescriptive configuration recommendations for a variety of software vendors. Anchore’s CIS policy pack is based off of the CIS Docker 1.6 Benchmark and validates a subset of security and compliance checks against container images deployed on Docker version 1.6.

Anchore checks for the following control specifications in the CIS policy:

4.1 Ensure that a user for the container has been created
4.2 Ensure that containers use only trusted base
4.3 Ensure that unnecessary packages are not installed in the container
4.4 Ensure images are scanned and rebuilt to include security patches
4.6 Ensure that HEALTHCHECK instructions have been added to container images
4.7 Ensure update instructions are not used alone in Dockerfiles
4.8 Ensure setuid and setgid permissions are removed
4.9 Ensure that COPY is used instead of ADD in Dockerfiles
4.10 Ensure secrets are not stored in Dockerfiles
4.11 Ensure only verified packages are installed
5.8 Ensure privileged ports are not mapped within containers

Enabling the CIS Policy

For this walkthrough, we will be using the IronBank policy for demonstration.

If you are an Anchore Enterprise customer, you will receive an email, which includes a json file for the IronBank policy that comes with your service.
Navigate to the Policies tab in Anchore Enterprise and click on the ‘Import Policy’.

Drag and drop, or paste the .json file to import the policy into Anchore Enterprise.

Paste-json

Or run the following command using AnchoreCTL

# anchorectl policy add --input anchore_dod_iron_bank_security_policies_09212022.json 
✔ Added policy                                                                                                                         
Name: anchore_dod_iron_bank_security_policies_09212022
Policy Id: 5-DoD-Iron-Bank-Docker
Active: false
Updated: 2024-05-03T21:42:53Z

After a successful import, the IronBank policy will be available in the Policies tab.

Iron-bank-policy

Or run the following command using AnchoreCTL

# anchorectl policy list
✔ Fetched policies                                                                                                                     
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬────────┬──────────────────────┐
│ NAME                                             │ POLICY ID                            │ ACTIVE │ UPDATED              │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────┼────────┼──────────────────────┤
│ Default policy                                   │ 2c53a13c-1765-11e8-82ef-23527761d060 │ true   │ 2024-05-03T22:04:08Z │
│ anchore_dod_iron_bank_security_policies_09212022 │ 5-DoD-Iron-Bank-Docker               │ false  │ 2024-05-03T22:04:08Z │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴────────┴──────────────────────┘

In order to activate the IronBank policy, simply click on the circle under ‘Active’.

Activate-policy

Once activated, you will see that the IronBank policy is highlighted in green.

Or run the following command using AnchoreCTL

# anchorectl policy activate 5-DoD-Iron-Bank-Docker 
✔ Activate policy                                                                                                                      
Name: anchore_dod_iron_bank_security_policies_09212022
Policy Id: 5-DoD-Iron-Bank-Docker
Active: true
Updated: 2024-05-03T22:07:54Z

Navigate to the Image tab in Anchore Enterprise and you will now be able to evaluate an image with the IronBank policy.

CIS-policy

Or run the following command using AnchoreCTL

As an example, we will add a centos image and evaluate it using the IronBank policy. please give it some time for Anchore to analyze the image when added

# anchorectl image add docker.io/centos:latest --wait
✔ Added Image                                                                                                                docker.io/centos:latest
✔ Analyzed Image                                                                                                             docker.io/centos:latest
Image:
status:           analyzed (active)
tag:              docker.io/centos:latest
digest:           sha256:a1801b843b1bfaf77c501e7a6d3f709401a1e0c83863037fa3aab063a7fdb9dc
id:               5d0da3dc976460b72c77d94c8a1ad043720b0416bfc16c52c45d4847e53fadb6
distro:           centos@8 (amd64)
layers:           1

To apply the active IronBank policy and see all the details of violation:

#anchorectl image check docker.io/centos:latest --detail

To apply the active IronBank policy and get a simple pass/fail check:

#anchorectl image check -f docker.io/centos:latest
✔ Evaluated against policy                  [failed]                                                            docker.io/centos:latest
Tag: docker.io/centos:latest
Digest: sha256:a1801b843b1bfaf77c501e7a6d3f709401a1e0c83863037fa3aab063a7fdb9dc
Policy ID: 5-DoD-Iron-Bank-Docker
Last Evaluation: 2024-05-03T22:08:52Z
Evaluation: fail
Final Action: stop
Reason: policy_evaluation

Configuring Rule Sets for the CIS Policy

Some of the control specifications need configuration based on the user’s environment. The control specifications are represented by ‘Rule Sets’ in Anchore Enterprise. Navigate to the Policies tab and click on the ‘Edit’ under ‘Actions’.

It is recommended all configuration changes to rule sets be done in the Anchore Enterprise UI.

The following rule sets MUST be configured before using the CIS policy:

4.2 Ensure that containers use only trusted base
4.3 Ensure that unnecessary packages are not installed in the container
5.8 Ensure privileged ports are not mapped within containers