Container Library Reduction via Risk Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computing environments face inefficiencies and security risks due to large memory footprints and unnecessary libraries in application containers, leading to resource wastage and potential vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
A method to generate containers with reduced sets of libraries by analyzing application dependencies, identifying subsets of utilized libraries, and simulating risk scenarios to determine whether to accept or reject the container based on risk analysis, thereby creating minimal-sized virtual machines or micro-containers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a container includes all libraries from the operating system and application packages, then the application can run without missing dependencies, but the container size and memory footprint increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the specific libraries that the application actually uses from the complete set of available libraries. By analyzing application dependencies and identifying the minimal required subset, the system removes unnecessary libraries from the container image, thereby reducing container size while maintaining application functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the complete library set into multiple categories: required libraries, optional libraries, and unnecessary libraries. This segmentation allows the system to selectively include only the necessary components in the container, creating a modular and optimized library configuration rather than including everything at once.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a container includes a large number of libraries, then application compatibility is improved, but security vulnerabilities increase due to larger attack surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes unnecessary libraries that contribute to the attack surface while preserving the compatibility required for application execution. By carefully analyzing which libraries are actually needed versus which are merely present, the system eliminates security vulnerabilities without compromising application functionality.
3Reliability
If risk analysis and simulation are performed on generated containers, then container security and reliability are improved, but the time and computational resources required increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs risk analysis and simulation actions as preliminary steps during the container generation process, before the container is deployed or used. By conducting these analyses upfront, the system identifies and resolves potential issues early, ensuring container reliability without delaying actual container execution or deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements optimized risk analysis that skips redundant checks and focuses on critical vulnerability areas. By prioritizing high-risk assessment over comprehensive low-risk verification, the system maintains thorough security checking while reducing overall analysis time and computational overhead.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes analyzing a given application to determine one or more packages utilized by the given application, the one or more packages comprising a plurality of libraries, identifying a subset of the plurality of libraries utilized by the given application, determining one or more dependent libraries for each of the identified libraries in the subset, generating a given container for the given application, the given container comprising the identified libraries in the subset and the dependent libraries for each of the identified libraries, performing risk analysis for the given container including comparing a risk value calculated for the given container to a designated risk threshold, simulating one or more actions in the given container responsive to the risk value calculated for the given container exceeding the designated risk threshold, and determining whether to accept or reject the given container responsive to the risk analysis and simulated actions.