compose-privileged.md

compose-privileged: Privileged container

Severity: CRITICAL  ·  Rule ID: compose-privileged

What it catches

A service sets privileged: true.

Example

services:
  worker:
    image: busybox
    privileged: true   # <- all capabilities, all devices, no seccomp/AppArmor

Why it matters

privileged: true is not "a few more permissions". It grants every Linux capability, disables seccomp and AppArmor, and exposes all host devices. A privileged container can load kernel modules, access raw block devices, and mount the host filesystem - so escaping it is trivial by design rather than a bug.

How to fix it

Remove the flag and add back only what is actually needed:

services:
  worker:
    image: busybox
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN       # only the capability the workload needs

If the service needs a specific device, map it explicitly with devices: rather than granting all of them.

When you might keep it

A container that genuinely manages host hardware - a storage or networking agent in a controlled environment. Even then, prefer specific cap_add and devices: entries; privileged is rarely the minimum that works.

Suppressing this rule

Permanently, for the whole repository:

# .docksec.yml
rules:
  disabled:
    - compose-privileged

Or per finding, with a reason and an expiry that keeps the decision auditable:

# .docksec-ignore.yml
ignores:
  - id: compose-privileged
    reason: "why this is accepted here"
    expires: 2027-01-01

References

• Implementation: docksec/compose_scanner.py
• All compose rules · Exploit chains