Lab 02 — Container Image Analysis

Mission Information

Property	Value
Lab Name	Container Image Analysis
Module	Module 06 — Container Security
Lab Number	Lab 02
Difficulty	Intermediate
Estimated Time	90–120 Minutes
Cloud Provider	Local Docker / AWS / Azure / GCP
Environment	Docker Images
Prerequisites	Complete Lessons 01–10
Tools Used	Docker CLI, Trivy, Grype, Syft, Dive, Docker Scout

Mission Brief

CloudNova Technologies has been engaged by MedSecure Global to perform a security assessment of the organization’s enterprise container images.

The customer maintains hundreds of container images supporting Kubernetes, Amazon ECS, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). Executive leadership wants assurance that production images are free from critical vulnerabilities, properly signed, and built using secure supply chain practices.

You have been assigned as the Lead Cloud Penetration Tester responsible for evaluating container image security, identifying risks, and providing remediation recommendations.

Learning Objectives

By completing this lab you will learn how to:

Analyze enterprise container images.
Identify vulnerable software packages.
Review image layers.
Detect embedded secrets.
Validate image provenance.
Generate a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM).
Assess supply chain security.
Produce a professional assessment report.

Enterprise Scenario

During this engagement you will assess:

Base Images
Image Layers
Installed Packages
Vulnerabilities
Embedded Secrets
Image Provenance
Digital Signatures
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)

Lab Architecture

Cloud Penetration Tester

↓

Container Images

├── Base Image
├── Application Layers
├── Dependencies
├── Runtime Libraries
├── Configuration Files

↓

Image Analysis Tools

↓

Assessment Report

Lab Tasks

Task 01 — Inventory Container Images

Review:

Available images
Image tags
Image sizes
Image versions
Base operating systems

Expected Outcome:

Create an inventory of enterprise container images.

Task 02 — Analyze Image Layers

Review:

Layer structure
Installed software
Application dependencies
Configuration files
Runtime components

Expected Outcome:

Understand the image composition and identify unnecessary components.

Task 03 — Scan for Vulnerabilities

Perform vulnerability scanning.

Review:

Critical vulnerabilities
High vulnerabilities
Medium vulnerabilities
Low vulnerabilities
Outdated packages

Expected Outcome:

Identify software vulnerabilities affecting production images.

Task 04 — Detect Embedded Secrets

Review images for:

API Keys
Passwords
Tokens
SSH Keys
Certificates
Cloud Credentials

Expected Outcome:

Ensure sensitive information is not stored inside container images.

Task 05 — Validate Image Provenance

Review:

Build pipeline
Source repository
Image metadata
Trusted publisher
Build history

Expected Outcome:

Verify the integrity and origin of enterprise container images.

Task 06 — Generate Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)

Generate an SBOM and review:

Installed packages
Libraries
Frameworks
Dependency versions
License information

Expected Outcome:

Document all software components contained within each image.

Task 07 — Validate Image Signing

Assess:

Digital signatures
Signature verification
Trusted publishers
Image integrity
Immutable tags

Expected Outcome:

Confirm that production images are trusted and have not been tampered with.

Task 08 — Review Supply Chain Security

Assess:

Image lifecycle
Dependency management
CI/CD integration
Registry controls
Build security

Expected Outcome:

Evaluate the maturity of the organization’s container software supply chain.

Task 09 — Prioritize Security Findings

Classify findings as:

Critical
High
Medium
Low
Informational

Prioritize remediation based on technical and business impact.

Task 10 — Produce Executive Assessment Report

Prepare:

Executive Summary
Technical Findings
Risk Register
Image Security Scorecard
Remediation Recommendations
Assessment Report

Expected Deliverables

At the end of this lab you should produce:

Container Image Security Assessment Report
Vulnerability Assessment
Software Bill of Materials (SBOM)
Image Inventory
Risk Register
Executive Summary
Evidence Screenshots

Success Criteria

You have successfully completed this lab when you can:

Analyze enterprise container images.
Identify vulnerable software components.
Detect embedded secrets.
Generate an SBOM.
Validate image provenance and integrity.
Prioritize risks.
Produce professional consulting documentation.

Real-World Skills Gained

After completing this lab you will be able to perform tasks expected of:

Cloud Penetration Tester
Container Security Engineer
DevSecOps Security Engineer
Software Supply Chain Security Consultant
Cloud Security Consultant
Enterprise Security Assessor

Lab Summary

In this lab, you performed a comprehensive enterprise container image security assessment using the GoHackersCloud Enterprise Container Security Assessment Framework.

You analyzed image layers, identified vulnerabilities, reviewed software dependencies, detected embedded secrets, generated Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs), validated image provenance, and assessed supply chain security before documenting technical findings and business risks in a professional consulting report.

Next Lab

➡️ Lab 03 — Registry Security Assessment

In the next lab, you will assess enterprise container registries by reviewing authentication, authorization, repository governance, image signing, vulnerability scanning, lifecycle management, and registry security controls using the GoHackersCloud Enterprise Container Security Assessment Framework.