A hardened Nginx web server configured to run unprivileged with the hardenedeu user (UID 10000), featuring security-hardened configurations and optimized for containerized deployments.

Getting Started

To pull the image:

docker pull registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

Example: Running Nginx with Custom Configuration

The Hardened B.V. nginx image runs unprivileged with the hardenedeu user (UID 10000) for enhanced security. The default configuration provides a minimal setup that returns 404 for all requests, serving as a secure starting point.

Default Configuration

The image includes a hardened nginx configuration with the following default server block:

server {
    listen 8080 default_server;
    listen [::]:8080 default_server;

    # Everything is a 404
    location / {
        return 404;
    }

    # You may need this to prevent return 404 recursion.
    location = /404.html {
        internal;
    }
}

Running the Container

docker run -p 8080:8080 registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

Adding Custom Virtual Hosts

To add your own virtual host configuration, create a custom Dockerfile:

FROM registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

# Copy your custom nginx configuration
COPY my-site.conf /etc/nginx/http.d/

# Copy your website files
COPY website/ /usr/share/nginx/html/

# Ensure proper permissions for the hardenedeu user
RUN chown -R 10000:10000 /usr/share/nginx/html /etc/nginx/http.d/

Security Hardening Features

The nginx image includes several security enhancements:

• Unprivileged Operation: Runs as non-root user (hardenedeu, UID 10000)
• Hardened Configuration: Uses nginx.conf.hardened with security optimizations
• Minimal Default: Default configuration returns 404 to prevent information disclosure
• Container-Optimized: Configured for containerized environments
• Logging: All logs are sent to stdout for container-friendly logging

Volume Mounts

For persistent configurations and logs:

docker run -p 8080:8080 \
  -v /path/to/nginx.conf:/etc/nginx/nginx.conf:ro \
  -v /path/to/sites:/etc/nginx/http.d:ro \
  -v /path/to/html:/usr/share/nginx/html:ro \
  registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

Health Checks

The container is configured to respond to health checks on port 8080. You can verify the container is running:

curl -I http://localhost:8080

Expected response: HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found

Custom SSL/TLS Configuration

For HTTPS support, mount your certificates and update the configuration. Note that the default configuration uses port 8080, but SSL/TLS typically uses port 8443:

server {
    listen 8443 ssl;
    server_name example.com;
    http2 on;
    
    ssl_certificate /etc/nginx/ssl/cert.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/nginx/ssl/key.pem;
    
    # SSL configuration optimized for security
    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512:DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA512;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers off;
    
    root /usr/share/nginx/html;
    index index.html;
    
    # Security headers, use the Mozilla SSL config generator
    # add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;
    # add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
    # add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
    # add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin" always;
}

Run with SSL/TLS:

docker run -p 8443:8443 \
  -v /path/to/ssl:/etc/nginx/ssl:ro \
  -v /path/to/sites:/etc/nginx/http.d:ro \
  registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

Verifying Image Signatures

All Hardened B.V. images are signed using cosign. You can verify the signature using the following steps:

Save the public key:

cat >hardened.pub <<EOL
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEbxhUFlXkIIbDzdRAR9rc6kDPNb+k
J48lhqqlOMyiq3jkbKXNj2sEFMduFlNh63MrZA59PKf4TjS1AiCrvaFXNA==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
EOL

Verify the image signature:

cosign verify --key hardened.pub registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

The verification will show the signature details and confirm the image’s authenticity.

To verify the SBOM, run the following command:

cosign verify-attestation --type spdxjson --key hardened.pub registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest

To download the SBOM, run the same command and decode it:

cosign verify-attestation --type spdxjson --key hardened.pub registry.hardened.eu/library/nginx:latest | jq -r .payload | base64 -d | jq -r .predicate > nginx-spdx.json

Trademarks

This software is packaged by Hardened B.V. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. Use of these images does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.