Performing Docker Bench Security Assessment

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Auditing Docker hosts for CIS compliance
• Scheduling recurring container assessments
• Validating runtime hardening controls after a change
• Applying the daemon hardening itself - use hardening-docker-daemon-configuration

Example prompts

• “/performing-docker-bench-security-assessment”

Requirements

• Python 3
• Docker

Workflow steps

4 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

1. 1Run Docker Bench Security
2. 2Interpret Results
3. 3Remediate Common Failures
4. 4Automate Scheduled Assessments

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 54a7988. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships 2 files in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • docker

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • github.com
  • cisecurity.org
  • docs.docker.com

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Performing Docker Bench Security Assessment loads about 1.3k tokens when it runs, and up to ~1.9k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 162 tokens; SKILL.md has 147 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~162

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.3k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~1.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NoteRuns commands with sudoSKILL.md:50

  - Root or sudo access on Docker host

• NoteRuns commands with sudoSKILL.md:100

  echo '{"icc": false}' | sudo tee /etc/docker/daemon.json

• NoteRuns commands with sudoSKILL.md:103

  echo '{"no-new-privileges": true}' | sudo tee -a /etc/docker/daemon.json

• NoteRuns commands with sudoSKILL.md:112

  sudo systemctl restart docker

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills at commit 54a7988, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mukul975). 147 words, ~1,266 tokens.

name

performing-docker-bench-security-assessment

description

Runs Docker Bench for Security, the open-source CIS Docker Benchmark audit script, across host configuration, daemon settings, images, and runtime configuration, then interprets pass/fail/warn output and remediates the common failures. Use when auditing Docker hosts for CIS compliance, scheduling recurring container assessments, or validating runtime hardening controls after a change. Keywords: docker-bench-security, CIS Docker Benchmark, audit script, pass fail warn, host configuration, remediation. Do not use for applying the daemon hardening itself - use hardening-docker-daemon-configuration.

domain

cybersecurity

subdomain

container-security

tags

containers, docker, security, CIS-benchmark, assessment

version

1.0

author

mahipal

license

Apache-2.0

nist_csf

PR.PS-01, PR.IR-01, ID.AM-08, DE.CM-01

mitre_attack

T1610, T1611, T1609, T1525

# Run as a container (recommended)
docker run --rm --net host --pid host --userns host --cap-add audit_control \
  -e DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST=$DOCKER_CONTENT_TRUST \
  -v /etc:/etc:ro \
  -v /usr/bin/containerd:/usr/bin/containerd:ro \
  -v /usr/bin/runc:/usr/bin/runc:ro \
  -v /usr/lib/systemd:/usr/lib/systemd:ro \
  -v /var/lib:/var/lib:ro \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  --label docker_bench_security \
  docker/docker-bench-security

# Run with JSON output
docker run --rm --net host --pid host --userns host --cap-add audit_control \
  -v /etc:/etc:ro \
  -v /var/lib:/var/lib:ro \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  docker/docker-bench-security -l /dev/stdout 2>/dev/null | tee docker-bench-results.json

# Run specific sections only
docker run --rm --net host --pid host --userns host \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  docker/docker-bench-security -c container_images,container_runtime

[INFO] 1 - Host Configuration
[PASS] 1.1.1 - Ensure a separate partition for containers has been created
[WARN] 1.1.2 - Ensure only trusted users are allowed to control Docker daemon
[PASS] 1.1.3 - Ensure auditing is configured for the Docker daemon

[INFO] 2 - Docker daemon configuration
[FAIL] 2.1 - Run the Docker daemon as a non-root user
[PASS] 2.2 - Ensure network traffic is restricted between containers on the default bridge

# Fix 2.2: Restrict inter-container communication
echo '{"icc": false}' | sudo tee /etc/docker/daemon.json

# Fix 2.17: Restrict containers from acquiring new privileges
echo '{"no-new-privileges": true}' | sudo tee -a /etc/docker/daemon.json

# Fix 5.3: Restrict Linux kernel capabilities
# Use --cap-drop ALL in docker run commands

# Fix 5.12: Mount container's root filesystem as read only
# Use --read-only flag in docker run commands

# Restart Docker daemon after configuration changes
sudo systemctl restart docker

# docker-compose for scheduled assessment
version: '3.8'
services:
  bench-security:
    image: docker/docker-bench-security
    network_mode: host
    pid: host
    userns_mode: host
    cap_add:
      - audit_control
    volumes:
      - /etc:/etc:ro
      - /var/lib:/var/lib:ro
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
      - ./results:/results
    command: -l /results/bench-$(date +%Y%m%d).log
    deploy:
      restart_policy:
        condition: none

# Verify remediation
docker run --rm docker/docker-bench-security 2>&1 | grep -E "(PASS|FAIL|WARN)" | sort | uniq -c

# Count results by type
docker run --rm docker/docker-bench-security 2>&1 | grep -c "PASS"
docker run --rm docker/docker-bench-security 2>&1 | grep -c "FAIL"
docker run --rm docker/docker-bench-security 2>&1 | grep -c "WARN"

© mukul975, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 7 other files (scripts, references, assets) in skills/performing-docker-bench-security-assessment of mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills.

• SKILL.md
• LICENSE
• assets/template.md
• references/api-reference.md
• references/standards.md
• references/workflows.md
• scripts/agent.py
• scripts/process.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 54a7988