--- description: Enabling AppArmor in Docker keywords: AppArmor, security, docker, documentation title: AppArmor security profiles for Docker --- AppArmor (Application Armor) is a Linux security module that protects an operating system and its applications from security threats. To use it, a system administrator associates an AppArmor security profile with each program. Docker expects to find an AppArmor policy loaded and enforced. Docker automatically generates and loads a default profile for containers named `docker-default`. The Docker binary generates this profile in `tmpfs` and then loads it into the kernel. > **Note**: This profile is used on containers, _not_ on the Docker Daemon. A profile for the Docker Engine daemon exists but it is not currently installed with the `deb` packages. If you are interested in the source for the daemon profile, it is located in [contrib/apparmor](https://github.com/moby/moby/tree/master/contrib/apparmor) in the Docker Engine source repository. ## Understand the policies The `docker-default` profile is the default for running containers. It is moderately protective while providing wide application compatibility. The profile is generated from the following [template](https://github.com/moby/moby/blob/master/profiles/apparmor/template.go). When you run a container, it uses the `docker-default` policy unless you override it with the `security-opt` option. For example, the following explicitly specifies the default policy: ```bash $ docker run --rm -it --security-opt apparmor=docker-default hello-world ``` ## Load and unload profiles To load a new profile into AppArmor for use with containers: ```bash $ apparmor_parser -r -W /path/to/your_profile ``` Then, run the custom profile with `--security-opt` like so: ```bash $ docker run --rm -it --security-opt apparmor=your_profile hello-world ``` To unload a profile from AppArmor: ```bash # unload the profile $ apparmor_parser -R /path/to/profile ``` ### Resources for writing profiles The syntax for file globbing in AppArmor is a bit different than some other globbing implementations. It is highly suggested you take a look at some of the below resources with regard to AppArmor profile syntax. - [Quick Profile Language](https://gitlab.com/apparmor/apparmor/wikis/QuickProfileLanguage) - [Globbing Syntax](https://gitlab.com/apparmor/apparmor/wikis/AppArmor_Core_Policy_Reference#AppArmor_globbing_syntax) ## Nginx example profile In this example, you create a custom AppArmor profile for Nginx. Below is the custom profile. ``` #include profile docker-nginx flags=(attach_disconnected,mediate_deleted) { #include network inet tcp, network inet udp, network inet icmp, deny network raw, deny network packet, file, umount, deny /bin/** wl, deny /boot/** wl, deny /dev/** wl, deny /etc/** wl, deny /home/** wl, deny /lib/** wl, deny /lib64/** wl, deny /media/** wl, deny /mnt/** wl, deny /opt/** wl, deny /proc/** wl, deny /root/** wl, deny /sbin/** wl, deny /srv/** wl, deny /tmp/** wl, deny /sys/** wl, deny /usr/** wl, audit /** w, /var/run/nginx.pid w, /usr/sbin/nginx ix, deny /bin/dash mrwklx, deny /bin/sh mrwklx, deny /usr/bin/top mrwklx, capability chown, capability dac_override, capability setuid, capability setgid, capability net_bind_service, deny @{PROC}/* w, # deny write for all files directly in /proc (not in a subdir) # deny write to files not in /proc//** or /proc/sys/** deny @{PROC}/{[^1-9],[^1-9][^0-9],[^1-9s][^0-9y][^0-9s],[^1-9][^0-9][^0-9][^0-9]*}/** w, deny @{PROC}/sys/[^k]** w, # deny /proc/sys except /proc/sys/k* (effectively /proc/sys/kernel) deny @{PROC}/sys/kernel/{?,??,[^s][^h][^m]**} w, # deny everything except shm* in /proc/sys/kernel/ deny @{PROC}/sysrq-trigger rwklx, deny @{PROC}/mem rwklx, deny @{PROC}/kmem rwklx, deny @{PROC}/kcore rwklx, deny mount, deny /sys/[^f]*/** wklx, deny /sys/f[^s]*/** wklx, deny /sys/fs/[^c]*/** wklx, deny /sys/fs/c[^g]*/** wklx, deny /sys/fs/cg[^r]*/** wklx, deny /sys/firmware/** rwklx, deny /sys/kernel/security/** rwklx, } ``` 1. Save the custom profile to disk in the `/etc/apparmor.d/containers/docker-nginx` file. The file path in this example is not a requirement. In production, you could use another. 2. Load the profile. ```bash $ sudo apparmor_parser -r -W /etc/apparmor.d/containers/docker-nginx ``` 3. Run a container with the profile. To run nginx in detached mode: ```bash $ docker run --security-opt "apparmor=docker-nginx" \ -p 80:80 -d --name apparmor-nginx nginx ``` 4. Exec into the running container. ```bash $ docker container exec -it apparmor-nginx bash ``` 5. Try some operations to test the profile. ```bash root@6da5a2a930b9:~# ping 8.8.8.8 ping: Lacking privilege for raw socket. root@6da5a2a930b9:/# top bash: /usr/bin/top: Permission denied root@6da5a2a930b9:~# touch ~/thing touch: cannot touch 'thing': Permission denied root@6da5a2a930b9:/# sh bash: /bin/sh: Permission denied root@6da5a2a930b9:/# dash bash: /bin/dash: Permission denied ``` Congrats! You just deployed a container secured with a custom apparmor profile! ## Debug AppArmor You can use `dmesg` to debug problems and `aa-status` check the loaded profiles. ### Use dmesg Here are some helpful tips for debugging any problems you might be facing with regard to AppArmor. AppArmor sends quite verbose messaging to `dmesg`. Usually an AppArmor line looks like the following: ``` [ 5442.864673] audit: type=1400 audit(1453830992.845:37): apparmor="ALLOWED" operation="open" profile="/usr/bin/docker" name="/home/jessie/docker/man/man1/docker-attach.1" pid=10923 comm="docker" requested_mask="r" denied_mask="r" fsuid=1000 ouid=0 ``` In the above example, you can see `profile=/usr/bin/docker`. This means the user has the `docker-engine` (Docker Engine Daemon) profile loaded. > **Note**: On version of Ubuntu > 14.04 this is all fine and well, but Trusty > users might run into some issues when trying to `docker container exec`. Look at another log line: ``` [ 3256.689120] type=1400 audit(1405454041.341:73): apparmor="DENIED" operation="ptrace" profile="docker-default" pid=17651 comm="docker" requested_mask="receive" denied_mask="receive" ``` This time the profile is `docker-default`, which is run on containers by default unless in `privileged` mode. This line shows that apparmor has denied `ptrace` in the container. This is exactly as expected. ### Use aa-status If you need to check which profiles are loaded, you can use `aa-status`. The output looks like: ```bash $ sudo aa-status apparmor module is loaded. 14 profiles are loaded. 1 profiles are in enforce mode. docker-default 13 profiles are in complain mode. /usr/bin/docker /usr/bin/docker///bin/cat /usr/bin/docker///bin/ps /usr/bin/docker///sbin/apparmor_parser /usr/bin/docker///sbin/auplink /usr/bin/docker///sbin/blkid /usr/bin/docker///sbin/iptables /usr/bin/docker///sbin/mke2fs /usr/bin/docker///sbin/modprobe /usr/bin/docker///sbin/tune2fs /usr/bin/docker///sbin/xtables-multi /usr/bin/docker///sbin/zfs /usr/bin/docker///usr/bin/xz 38 processes have profiles defined. 37 processes are in enforce mode. docker-default (6044) ... docker-default (31899) 1 processes are in complain mode. /usr/bin/docker (29756) 0 processes are unconfined but have a profile defined. ``` The above output shows that the `docker-default` profile running on various container PIDs is in `enforce` mode. This means AppArmor is actively blocking and auditing in `dmesg` anything outside the bounds of the `docker-default` profile. The output above also shows the `/usr/bin/docker` (Docker Engine daemon) profile is running in `complain` mode. This means AppArmor _only_ logs to `dmesg` activity outside the bounds of the profile. (Except in the case of Ubuntu Trusty, where some interesting behaviors are enforced.) ## Contribute Docker's AppArmor code Advanced users and package managers can find a profile for `/usr/bin/docker` (Docker Engine Daemon) underneath [contrib/apparmor](https://github.com/moby/moby/tree/master/contrib/apparmor) in the Docker Engine source repository. The `docker-default` profile for containers lives in [profiles/apparmor](https://github.com/moby/moby/tree/master/profiles/apparmor).