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Running as Root User

Issue Description

NetAlertX has detected that the container is running with root privileges (UID 0). This configuration bypasses all built-in security hardening measures designed to protect your system.

Security Ramifications

Running security-critical applications like network monitoring tools as root grants unrestricted access to your host system. A successful compromise here could jeopardize your entire infrastructure, including other containers, host services, and potentially your network.

Why You're Seeing This Issue

This typically occurs when you've explicitly overridden the container's default user in your Docker configuration, such as using user: root or --user 0:0 in docker-compose.yml or docker run commands. The application is designed to run under a dedicated, non-privileged service account for security.

How to Correct the Issue

Switch to the dedicated 'netalertx' user by removing any custom user directives:

  • Remove user: entries from your docker-compose.yml
  • Avoid --user flags in docker run commands
  • Ensure the container runs with the default UID 20211:20211

After making these changes, restart the container. The application will automatically adjust ownership of required directories.

Additional Resources

Docker Compose setup can be complex. We recommend starting with the default docker-compose.yml as a base and modifying it incrementally.

For detailed Docker Compose configuration guidance, see: DOCKER_COMPOSE.md