Container Admission Control via Security Quality Metrics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing containerized computing environments lack effective admission control mechanisms to ensure container security, as they do not adequately verify container images for security vulnerabilities before deployment, leaving them susceptible to threats.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a container native firewall with an admission controller that integrates with container inspection systems to assess container images for security vulnerabilities and compliance with predefined security policies, allowing or disallowing their creation based on determined quality metrics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If container images are deployed without security vulnerability verification, then deployment speed is improved, but container security deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The admission controller performs security verification actions before container deployment by integrating with container inspection systems to scan and assess container images for security vulnerabilities, ensuring security checks are completed in advance of actual deployment
Solution Approach 2:
The admission controller serves as an intermediary component between the container deployment process and container inspection systems, coordinating security verification and using quality metrics to make deployment decisions without directly performing the inspection itself
2Reliability
If admission control with container inspection integration is implemented, then container security is improved, but system complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The admission controller is designed as a multi-functional component that not only performs security verification by integrating with container inspection systems but also calculates quality metrics and makes deployment decisions, consolidating multiple functions into a single controller to manage complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where the admission controller receives inspection results from container inspection systems, processes quality metrics, and uses this feedback to make informed deployment decisions, creating a closed-loop control system that manages complexity through structured information flow
3Reliability
If quality metric assessment is performed for each container, then security verification is improved, but processing time worsens
Solution Approach 1:
Security assessments and quality metric calculations are performed in advance during the admission control phase before deployment, so that when containers are deployed, the verification work has already been completed, reducing actual deployment time
Solution Approach 2:
The container inspection systems autonomously perform security scans and generate quality metrics without requiring manual intervention, allowing the system to self-verify container security and make deployment decisions based on automated assessments
Data Source
AI summary
A method for performing admission control in a containerized computing environment includes deploying, by one or more processors of a computer system, the containerized computing environment, receiving, by the containerized computing environment, constraints associated with admission control for containers, the constraints related to container security and receiving, by the containerized computing environment, a request for creating a container. The method includes determining, by an admission controller of the containerized computing environment, a quality metric of the container associated with the received request, performing, by the admission controller of the containerized computing environment, admission control prior to the creating of the container by applying the constraints using the determined quality metric, and allowing or disallowing, by the admission controller of the containerized computing environment, creation of the container based on the performing the admission control.