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CONTAINERS-POLICY.JSON(5) Page CONTAINERS-POLICY.JSON(5)

Miloslav Trma September 2016

NAME
containers-policy.json - syntax for the signature verification policy
file

DESCRIPTION
Signature verification policy files are used to specify policy, e.g.
trusted keys, applicable when deciding whether to accept an image, or
individual signatures of that image, as valid.

By default, the policy is read from $HOME/.config/containers/pol-
icy.json, if it exists, otherwise from /etc/containers/policy.json;
applications performing verification may allow using a different policy
instead.

FORMAT
The signature verification policy file, usually called policy.json,
uses a JSON format. Unlike some other JSON files, its parsing is
fairly strict: unrecognized, duplicated or otherwise invalid fields
cause the entire file, and usually the entire operation, to be re-
jected.

The purpose of the policy file is to define a set of policy require-
ments for a container image, usually depending on its location (where
it is being pulled from) or otherwise defined identity.

Policy requirements can be defined for:

• An individual scope in a transport. The transport values are
the same as the transport prefixes when pushing/pulling images
(e.g. docker:, atomic:), and scope values are defined by each
transport; see below for more details.

Usually, a scope can be defined to match a single image, and various
prefixes of
such a most specific scope define namespaces of matching images.

• A default policy for a single transport, expressed using an
empty string as a scope

• A global default policy.

If multiple policy requirements match a given image, only the require-
ments from the most specific match apply, the more general policy re-
quirements definitions are ignored.

This is expressed in JSON using the top-level syntax

{
"default": [/* policy requirements: global default */]
"transports": {
transport_name: {
"": [/* policy requirements: default for transport $transport_name */],
scope_1: [/* policy requirements: default for $scope_1 in $transport_name */],
scope_2: [/**/]
/**/
},
transport_name_2: {/**/}
/**/
}
}

The global default set of policy requirements is mandatory; all of the
other fields (transports itself, any specific transport, the transport-
specific default, etc.) are optional.

Supported transports and their scopes
See containers-transports(5) for general documentation about the trans-
ports and their reference syntax.

atomic:
The deprecated atomic: transport refers to images in an Atomic Reg-
istry.

Supported scopes use the form hostname[:port][/namespace[/imagestream
[:tag]]], i.e. either specifying a complete name of a tagged image, or
prefix denoting a host/namespace/image stream, or a wildcarded expres-
sion starting with *. for matching all subdomains. For wildcarded sub-
domain matching, *.example.com is a valid case, but example*.*.com is
not.

Note: The hostname and port refer to the container registry host and
port (the one used e.g. for docker pull), not to the OpenShift API host
and port.

containers-storage:
Supported scopes have the form [storage-specifier]image-scope.

[storage-specifier] is usually [graph-driver-name@graph-root], e.g.
[overlay@/var/lib/containers/storage].

image-scope matching the individual image is - a named Docker reference
in the fully expanded form, either using a tag or digest. For example,
docker.io/library/busybox:latest (not busybox:latest) - and/or (depend-
ing on which one the users input provides) @image-id

More general scopes are prefixes of individual-image scopes, and spec-
ify a less-precisely-specified image, or a repository (by omitting
first the image ID, if any; then the digest, if any; and finally a tag,
if any), a repository namespace, or a registry host (by only specifying
the host name and possibly a port number).

Finally, two full-store specifiers matching all images in the store are
valid scopes: - [graph-driver-name@graph-root] and - [graph-root]

Note that some tools like Podman and Buildah hard-code overrides of the
signature verification policy for push operations, allowing these oper-
ations regardless of configuration in policy.json.

dir:
The dir: transport refers to images stored in local directories.

Supported scopes are paths of directories (either containing a single
image or subdirectories possibly containing images).

Note: - The paths must be absolute and contain no symlinks. Paths vio-
lating these requirements may be silently ignored. - The top-level
scope "/" is forbidden; use the transport default scope "",
for consistency with other transports.

docker:
The docker: transport refers to images in a registry implementing the
"Docker Registry HTTP API V2".

Scopes matching individual images are named Docker references in the
fully expanded form, either using a tag or digest. For example,
docker.io/library/busybox:latest (not busybox:latest).

More general scopes are prefixes of individual-image scopes, and spec-
ify a repository (by omitting the tag or digest), a repository name-
space, or a registry host (by only specifying the host name and possi-
bly a port number) or a wildcarded expression starting with *., for
matching all subdomains (not including a port number). For wildcarded
subdomain matching, *.example.com is a valid case, but example*.*.com
is not.

docker-archive:
Only the default "" scope is supported.

docker-daemon:
For references using the algo:digest format (referring to an image ID),
only the default "" scope is used.

For images using a named reference, scopes matching individual images
are in the fully expanded form, either using a tag or digest. For exam-
ple, docker.io/library/busybox:latest (not busybox:latest).

More general named scopes are prefixes of individual-image scopes, and
specify a repository (by omitting the tag or digest), a repository
namespace, or a registry host (by only specifying the host name and
possibly a port number) or a wildcarded expression starting with *.,
for matching all subdomains (not including a port number). For wild-
carded subdomain matching, *.example.com is a valid case, but exam-
ple*.*.com is not.

oci:
The oci: transport refers to images in directories compliant with "Open
Container Image Layout Specification".

Supported scopes are paths to directories (either containing an OCI
layout, or subdirectories possibly containing OCI layout directories).
The reference annotation value, if any, is not used.

oci-archive:
Supported scopes are paths to OCI archives, and their parent directo-
ries (either containing a single archive, or subdirectories possibly
containing archives). The reference annotation value, if any, is not
used.

ostree:
Supported scopes have the form repo-path:image-scope; _repopath is the
path to the OSTree repository.

image-scope is the _dockerreference part of the reference, with with a
:latest tag implied if no tag is present, and parent namespaces of the
_dockerreference value (by omitting the tag, or a prefix specifying a
higher-level namespace).

Note: - The _repopath must be absolute and contain no symlinks. Paths
violating these requirements may be silently ignored.

sif:
Supported scopes are paths to Singularity images, and their parent di-
rectories (either containing images, or subdirectories possibly con-
taining images).

tarball:
The tarball: transport is an implementation detail of some import work-
flows. Only the default "" scope is supported.

Policy Requirements
Using the mechanisms above, a set of policy requirements is looked up.
The policy requirements are represented as a JSON array of individual
requirement objects. For an image to be accepted, all of the require-
ments must be satisfied simultaneously.

The policy requirements can also be used to decide whether an individ-
ual signature is accepted (= is signed by a recognized key of a known
author); in that case some requirements may apply only to some signa-
tures, but each signature must be accepted by at least one requirement
object.

The following requirement objects are supported:

insecureAcceptAnything
A simple requirement with the following syntax

{"type":"insecureAcceptAnything"}

This requirement accepts any image (but note that other requirements in
the array still apply).

When deciding to accept an individual signature, this requirement does
not have any effect; it does not cause the signature to be accepted,
though.

This is useful primarily for policy scopes where no signature verifica-
tion is required; because the array of policy requirements must not be
empty, this requirement is used to represent the lack of requirements
explicitly.

reject
A simple requirement with the following syntax:

{"type":"reject"}

This requirement rejects every image, and every signature.

signedBy
This requirement requires an image to be signed using simple signing
with an expected identity, or accepts a signature if it is using an ex-
pected identity and key.

{
"type": "signedBy",
"keyType": "GPGKeys", /* The only currently supported value */
"keyPath": "/path/to/local/keyring/file",
"keyPaths": ["/path/to/local/keyring/file1","/path/to/local/keyring/file2"],
"keyData": "base64-encoded-keyring-data",
"signedIdentity": identity_requirement
}

Exactly one of keyPath, keyPaths and keyData must be present, contain-
ing a GPG keyring of one or more public keys. Only signatures made by
these keys are accepted.

The signedIdentity field, a JSON object, specifies what image identity
the signature claims about the image. One of the following alterna-
tives are supported:

• The identity in the signature must exactly match the image
identity. Note that with this, referencing an image by digest
(with a signature claiming a repository:tag identity) will
fail.

{"type":"matchExact"}

• If the image identity carries a tag, the identity in the sig-
nature must exactly match; if the image identity uses a digest
reference, the identity in the signature must be in the same
repository as the image identity (using any tag).

(Note that with images identified using digest references, the digest
from the reference is validated even before signature verification
starts.)

{"type":"matchRepoDigestOrExact"}

• The identity in the signature must be in the same repository
as the image identity. This is useful e.g. to pull an image
using the :latest tag when the image is signed with a tag
specifying an exact image version.

{"type":"matchRepository"}

• The identity in the signature must exactly match a specified
identity. This is useful e.g. when locally mirroring images
signed using their public identity.

{
"type": "exactReference",
"dockerReference": docker_reference_value
}

• The identity in the signature must be in the same repository
as a specified identity. This combines the properties of
matchRepository and exactReference.

{
"type": "exactRepository",
"dockerRepository": docker_repository_value
}

• Prefix remapping:

If the image identity matches the specified prefix, that prefix is re-
placed by the specified signed prefix
(otherwise it is used as unchanged and no remapping takes place);
matching then follows the matchRepoDigestOrExact semantics documented
above
(i.e. if the image identity carries a tag, the identity in the signa-
ture must exactly match,
if it uses a digest reference, the repository must match).

The prefix and signedPrefix values can be either host[:port] values
(matching exactly the same host[:port], string),
repository namespaces, or repositories (i.e. they must not contain
tags/digests),
and match as prefixes of the fully expanded form.
For example, docker.io/library/busybox (not busybox) to specify that
single repository,
or docker.io/library (not an empty string) to specify the parent
namespace of docker.io/library/busybox==busybox).

The prefix value is usually the same as the scope containing the parent
signedBy requirement.

{
"type": "remapIdentity",
"prefix": prefix,
"signedPrefix": prefix,
}

If the signedIdentity field is missing, it is treated as matchRepoDige-
stOrExact.

Note: matchExact, matchRepoDigestOrExact and matchRepository can be
only used if a Docker-like image identity is provided by the transport.
In particular, the dir: and oci: transports can be only used with exac-
tReference or exactRepository.

sigstoreSigned
This requirement requires an image to be signed using a sigstore signa-
ture with an expected identity and key.

{
"type": "sigstoreSigned",
"keyPath": "/path/to/local/public/key/file",
"keyPaths": ["/path/to/first/public/key/one", "/path/to/first/public/key/two"],
"keyData": "base64-encoded-public-key-data",
"keyDatas": ["base64-encoded-public-key-one-data", "base64-encoded-public-key-two-data"]
"fulcio": {
"caPath": "/path/to/local/CA/file",
"caData": "base64-encoded-CA-data",
"oidcIssuer": "https://expected.OIDC.issuer/",
"subjectEmail", "expected-signing-user@example.com",
},
"rekorPublicKeyPath": "/path/to/local/public/key/file",
"rekorPublicKeyPaths": ["/path/to/local/public/key/one","/path/to/local/public/key/two"],
"rekorPublicKeyData": "base64-encoded-public-key-data",
"rekorPublicKeyDatas": ["base64-encoded-public-key-one-data","base64-encoded-public-key-two-data"],
"signedIdentity": identity_requirement
}

Exactly one of keyPath, keyPaths, keyData, keyDatas and fulcio must be
present.

If keyPath or keyData is present, it contains a sigstore public key.
Only signatures made by this key are accepted.

If keyPaths or keyDatas is present, it contains sigstore public keys.
Only signatures made by any key in the list are accepted.

If fulcio is present, the signature must be based on a Fulcio-issued
certificate. One of caPath and caData must be specified, containing
the public key of the Fulcio instance. Both oidcIssuer and sub-
jectEmail are mandatory, exactly specifying the expected identity
provider, and the identity of the user obtaining the Fulcio certifi-
cate.

At most one of rekorPublicKeyPath, rekorPublicKeyPaths, rekorPublicKey-
Data and rekorPublicKeyDatas can be present; it is mandatory if fulcio
is specified. If a Rekor public key is specified, the signature must
have been uploaded to a Rekor server and the signature must contain an
(offline-verifiable) signed entry timestamp proving the existence of
the Rekor log record, signed by one of the provided public keys.

The signedIdentity field has the same semantics as in the signedBy re-
quirement described above. Note that cosign-created signatures only
contain a repository, so only matchRepository and exactRepository can
be used to accept them (and that does not protect against substitution
of a signed image with an unexpected tag).

To use this with images hosted on image registries, the use-sigstore-
attachments option needs to be enabled for the relevant registry or
repository in the client's containers-registries.d(5).

Examples
It is strongly recommended to set the default policy to reject, and
then selectively allow individual transports and scopes as desired.

A reasonably locked-down system
(Note that the /**/ comments are not valid in JSON, and must not be
used in real policies.)

{
"default": [{"type": "reject"}], /* Reject anything not explicitly allowed */
"transports": {
"docker": {
/* Allow installing images from a specific repository namespace, without cryptographic verification.
This namespace includes images like openshift/hello-openshift and openshift/origin. */
"docker.io/openshift": [{"type": "insecureAcceptAnything"}],
/* Similarly, allow installing the official busybox images. Note how the fully expanded
form, with the explicit /library/, must be used. */
"docker.io/library/busybox": [{"type": "insecureAcceptAnything"}],
/* Allow installing images from all subdomains */
"*.temporary-project.example.com": [{"type": "insecureAcceptAnything"}],
/* A sigstore-signed repository */
"hostname:5000/myns/sigstore-signed-with-full-references": [
{
"type": "sigstoreSigned",
"keyPath": "/path/to/sigstore-pubkey.pub"
}
],
/* A sigstore-signed repository using the community Fulcio+Rekor servers.

The community servers public keys can be obtained from
https://github.com/sigstore/sigstore/tree/main/pkg/tuf/repository/targets . */
"hostname:5000/myns/sigstore-signed-fulcio-rekor- allows-malicious-tag-substitution": [
{
"type": "sigstoreSigned",
"fulcio": {
"caPath": "/path/to/fulcio_v1.crt.pem",
"oidcIssuer": "https://github.com/login/oauth",
"subjectEmail": "test-user@example.com"
},
"rekorPublicKeyPath": "/path/to/rekor.pub",
"signedIdentity": { "type": "matchRepository" }
}
]
/* Other docker: images use the global default policy and are rejected */
},
"dir": {
"": [{"type": "insecureAcceptAnything"}] /* Allow any images originating in local directories */
},
"atomic": {
/* The common case: using a known key for a repository or set of repositories */
"hostname:5000/myns/official": [
{
"type": "signedBy",
"keyType": "GPGKeys",
"keyPath": "/path/to/official-pubkey.gpg"
}
],
/* A more complex example, for a repository which contains a mirror of a third-party product,
which must be signed-off by local IT */
"hostname:5000/vendor/product": [
{ /* Require the image to be signed by the original vendor, using the vendor's repository location. */
"type": "signedBy",
"keyType": "GPGKeys",
"keyPath": "/path/to/vendor-pubkey.gpg",
"signedIdentity": {
"type": "exactRepository",
"dockerRepository": "vendor-hostname/product/repository"
}
},
{ /* Require the image to _also_ be signed by a local reviewer. */
"type": "signedBy",
"keyType": "GPGKeys",
"keyPath": "/path/to/reviewer-pubkey.gpg"
}
],
/* A way to mirror many repositories from a single vendor */
"private-mirror:5000/vendor-mirror": [
{ /* Require the image to be signed by the original vendor, using the vendor's repository location.
For example, private-mirror:5000/vendor-mirror/productA/image1:latest needs to be signed as
vendor.example/productA/image1:latest . */
"type": "signedBy",
"keyType": "GPGKeys",
"keyPath": "/path/to/vendor-pubkey.gpg",
"signedIdentity": {
"type": "remapIdentity",
"prefix": "private-mirror:5000/vendor-mirror",
"signedPrefix": "vendor.example.com"
}
}
]
}
}
}

Completely disable security, allow all images, do not trust any signatures
{
"default": [{"type": "insecureAcceptAnything"}]
}

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