ITGSS Certified DevOps Engineer Practice Test

What flag should be prevented in order to enhance container security?

1. unprivileged

2. secure

3. privileged

4. restricted

The correct answer is: privileged

To enhance container security, preventing the use of the privileged flag is crucial. This flag allows a container to gain elevated permissions and access the host system's resources directly, much like a root user. With privileged access, a container can potentially perform any action on the host, including modifying critical system files, accessing hardware directly, and running network monitoring tools. This significantly increases the attack surface and could lead to severe security breaches, including unauthorized data access and disruption of services. In contrast, the unprivileged option typically restricts the container's access to only what's necessary, promoting a principle of least privilege. The secure flag, which often enforces security contexts and measures, is intended to enhance security rather than diminish it. The restricted flag limits the capabilities available to a container but does not pose the same level of risk as the privileged flag. Thus, avoiding the privileged flag directly addresses security vulnerabilities and helps maintain the integrity of both the container and the host environment.