- Add validated mitre_attack frontmatter to all 754 skills (286 distinct
techniques), verified against MITRE ATT&CK v19.1 via the official
mitreattack-python library: 0 revoked, deprecated, or invalid IDs
- Curate precise per-skill technique IDs for forensics, malware-analysis,
threat-intel, and red-team skills (e.g. DCSync -> T1003.006,
Kerberoasting -> T1558.003, Pass-the-Ticket -> T1550.003)
- Reconcile v19.1 tactic restructuring: Defense Evasion split into
Stealth (TA0005) and Defense Impairment (TA0112); revoked T1562.*
family and T1070.001/.002 remapped to active equivalents (T1685.*)
- Normalize word-split tags across 35 skills (remove filename-derived
stopword tags, add semantic cybersecurity tags)
- Add api-reference.md for 3 skills that were missing it
- Update README ATT&CK section with accurate v19.1 tactic distribution
Reduce container attack surface by building application images on Google distroless base images that contain only the application runtime with no shell, package manager, or unnecessary OS utilities.
cybersecurity
container-security
distroless
container-images
minimal-base
attack-surface
docker
security-hardening
supply-chain
kubernetes
1.0
mahipal
Apache-2.0
PR.PS-01
PR.IR-01
ID.AM-08
DE.CM-01
T1610
T1611
T1609
T1525
T1195
Implementing Container Image Minimal Base with Distroless
Overview
Google distroless images contain only your application and its runtime dependencies, without package managers, shells, or other programs found in standard Linux distributions. By eliminating unnecessary OS components, distroless images achieve up to 95% reduction in attack surface compared to traditional base images like ubuntu or debian. Major projects including Kubernetes itself, Knative, and Tekton use distroless images in production. As of 2025, Docker also offers Hardened Images (DHI) as an open-source alternative for minimal container bases.
When to Use
When deploying or configuring implementing container image minimal base with distroless capabilities in your environment
When establishing security controls aligned to compliance requirements
When building or improving security architecture for this domain
When conducting security assessments that require this implementation
Prerequisites
Docker 20.10+ or compatible container build tool (Buildah, Kaniko)
Multi-stage Dockerfile knowledge
Application compiled as a static binary or with runtime bundled
Container registry for image storage
Available Distroless Images
Image
Use Case
Size
gcr.io/distroless/static-debian12
Statically compiled binaries (Go, Rust)
~2MB
gcr.io/distroless/base-debian12
Dynamically linked binaries needing glibc
~20MB
gcr.io/distroless/cc-debian12
C/C++ applications needing libstdc++
~25MB
gcr.io/distroless/java21-debian12
Java 21 applications
~220MB
gcr.io/distroless/python3-debian12
Python 3 applications
~50MB
gcr.io/distroless/nodejs22-debian12
Node.js 22 applications
~130MB
Multi-Stage Build Patterns
Go Application
# Build stageFROMgolang:1.22-bookwormASbuilderWORKDIR/appCOPY go.mod go.sum ./RUN go mod downloadCOPY . .RUNCGO_ENABLED=0GOOS=linux go build -ldflags="-s -w" -o /server ./cmd/server# Runtime stage - static distrolessFROMgcr.io/distroless/static-debian12:nonrootCOPY --from=builder /server /serverUSERnonroot:nonrootENTRYPOINT["/server"]