testcontainers / testcontainers/testcontainers-java

Images used in modules should be be pulled by digest and not by tag

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Dominant language
Java
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Description

Currently the images used in the test containers modules are being pulled by tag.
This has several disadvantages, the biggest one being a possible attack vector if the owner's account for those images in Docker is compromised.
I understand that users can override and pull whatever image they want but it would be nice to have a more secure default.

I was going to submit a pr with these changes but I noticed that some images were already being pulled by digest before and this was changed to tags (example: #1406).

I want to know if there is interest in doing this. If so I can help. It's also unclear what kind of architectures are supported with Testcontainers (eg: arm?) which will influence the approach in case you feel like implementing this change.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the image references used across the test container modules and review the change described in issue #1406. Determine how supported architectures, including ARM, affect digest selection and the existing override behavior. Done means establishing a secure default that pulls module images by digest while preserving intentional user overrides.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, java
Domain
infrastructure, security, testing
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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