Run traefik rootless, distroless and secure by default!
Traefik (pronounced traffic) is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that makes deploying microservices easy.
What can I do with this? Run the prefer IaC reverse proxy distroless and rootless for maximum security.
Why should I run this image and not the other image(s) that already exist? Good question! Because ...
Important
- ... this image runs rootless as 1000:1000
- ... this image has no shell since it is distroless
- ... this image is auto updated to the latest version via CI/CD
- ... this image has a health check
- ... this image runs read-only
- ... this image is automatically scanned for CVEs before and after publishing
- ... this image is created via a secure and pinned CI/CD process
- ... this image is very small
If you value security, simplicity and optimizations to the extreme, then this image might be for you.
Below you find a comparison between this image and the most used or original one.
| image | size on disk | init default as | distroless | supported architectures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11notes/traefik:3.5.1 | 31MB | 1000:1000 | ✅ | armv7, arm64, amd64 |
| traefik:3.5.1 | 178MB | 0:0 | ❌ | amd64, armv6, arm64v8, ppc64le, s390x |
- /traefik/var - Directory of all dynamic data and configurations
name: "reverse-proxy"
x-lockdown: &lockdown
# prevents write access to the image itself
read_only: true
# prevents any process within the container to gain more privileges
security_opt:
- "no-new-privileges=true"
services:
socket-proxy:
# this image is used to expose the docker socket as read-only to traefik
# you can check https://github.com/11notes/docker-socket-proxy for all details
image: "11notes/socket-proxy:2.1.3"
<<: *lockdown
user: "0:108"
environment:
TZ: "Europe/Zurich"
volumes:
- "/run/docker.sock:/run/docker.sock:ro"
- "socket-proxy.run:/run/proxy"
restart: "always"
traefik:
depends_on:
socket-proxy:
condition: "service_healthy"
restart: true
image: "11notes/traefik:3.5.1"
<<: *lockdown
labels:
- "traefik.enable=true"
# default errors middleware
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-errors.errors.status=402-599"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-errors.errors.query=/{status}"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-errors.errors.service=default-errors"
# default ratelimit
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-ratelimit.ratelimit.average=100"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-ratelimit.ratelimit.burst=120"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-ratelimit.ratelimit.period=1s"
# default CSP
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-csp.headers.contentSecurityPolicy=default-src 'self' blob: data: 'unsafe-inline'"
# default allowlist
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-ipallowlist-RFC1918.ipallowlist.sourcerange=10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168.0.0/16"
# example on how to secure the traefik dashboard and api
- "traefik.http.routers.dashboard.rule=Host(`${TRAEFIK_FQDN}`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.dashboard.service=api@internal"
- "traefik.http.routers.dashboard.middlewares=dashboard-auth"
- "traefik.http.routers.dashboard.entrypoints=https"
# admin / traefik, please change!
- "traefik.http.middlewares.dashboard-auth.basicauth.users=admin:$2a$12$ktgZsFQZ0S1FeQbI1JjS9u36fAJMHDQaY6LNi9EkEp8sKtP5BK43C"
# default catch-all router
- "traefik.http.routers.default.rule=HostRegexp(`.+`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.default.priority=1"
- "traefik.http.routers.default.entrypoints=https"
- "traefik.http.routers.default.service=default-errors"
# default http to https redirection
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-http.redirectscheme.permanent=true"
- "traefik.http.middlewares.default-http.redirectscheme.scheme=https"
- "traefik.http.routers.default-http.priority=1"
- "traefik.http.routers.default-http.rule=HostRegexp(`.+`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.default-http.entrypoints=http"
- "traefik.http.routers.default-http.middlewares=default-http"
- "traefik.http.routers.default-http.service=default-http"
- "traefik.http.services.default-http.loadbalancer.passhostheader=true"
environment:
TZ: "Europe/Zurich"
PORKBUN_API_KEY: "${PORKBUN_API_KEY}"
PORKBUN_SECRET_API_KEY: "${PORKBUN_SECRET_API_KEY}"
command:
# ping is needed for the health check to work!
- "--ping=true"
- "--ping.terminatingStatusCode=204"
- "--global.checkNewVersion=false"
- "--global.sendAnonymousUsage=false"
- "--accesslog=true"
- "--api.dashboard=true"
# disable insecure api and dashboard access
- "--api.insecure=false"
- "--log.level=INFO"
- "--log.format=json"
- "--providers.docker.exposedByDefault=false"
- "--providers.file.directory=/traefik/var"
- "--entrypoints.http.address=:80"
- "--entrypoints.http.http.middlewares=default-errors,default-ratelimit,default-ipallowlist-RFC1918,default-csp"
- "--entrypoints.https.address=:443"
- "--entrypoints.https.http.tls=true"
- "--entrypoints.https.http.middlewares=default-errors,default-ratelimit,default-ipallowlist-RFC1918,default-csp"
# disable upstream HTTPS certificate checks (https > https)
- "--serversTransport.insecureSkipVerify=true"
- "--experimental.plugins.rewriteResponseHeaders.moduleName=github.com/jamesmcroft/traefik-plugin-rewrite-response-headers"
- "--experimental.plugins.rewriteResponseHeaders.version=v1.1.2"
- "--experimental.plugins.geoblock.moduleName=github.com/PascalMinder/geoblock"
- "--experimental.plugins.geoblock.version=v0.3.3"
# let's encrypt example for porkbun DNS challenge
- "--certificatesResolvers.porkbun.acme.storage=/traefik/var/porkbun.json"
- "--certificatesResolvers.porkbun.acme.dnsChallenge.provider=porkbun"
- "--certificatesResolvers.porkbun.acme.dnsChallenge.delayBeforeCheck=30"
- "--entrypoints.https.http.tls.certresolver=porkbun"
- "--entrypoints.https.http.tls.domains[0].main=${DOMAIN0}"
- "--entrypoints.https.http.tls.domains[0].sans=*.${DOMAIN0}"
ports:
- "80:80/tcp"
- "443:443/tcp"
volumes:
- "var:/traefik/var"
- "plugins:/traefik/plugins"
# access docker socket via proxy read-only
- "socket-proxy.run:/var/run"
networks:
backend:
frontend:
sysctls:
# allow rootless container to access ports < 1024
net.ipv4.ip_unprivileged_port_start: 80
restart: "always"
errors:
# this image can be used to display a simple error message since Traefik can’t serve content
image: "11notes/traefik:errors"
<<: *lockdown
labels:
- "traefik.enable=true"
- "traefik.http.services.default-errors.loadbalancer.server.port=8080"
environment:
TZ: "Europe/Zurich"
networks:
backend:
restart: "always"
# example container
nginx:
image: "11notes/nginx:stable"
<<: *lockdown
labels:
- "traefik.enable=true"
- "traefik.http.routers.nginx-example.rule=Host(`${NGINX_FQDN}`)"
- "traefik.http.routers.nginx-example.entrypoints=https"
- "traefik.http.routers.nginx-example.service=nginx-example"
- "traefik.http.services.nginx-example.loadbalancer.server.port=3000"
tmpfs:
# needed for read_only: true
- "/nginx/cache:uid=1000,gid=1000"
- "/nginx/run:uid=1000,gid=1000"
networks:
backend:
restart: "always"
volumes:
var:
plugins:
socket-proxy.run:
networks:
frontend:
backend:
internal: true| Parameter | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
user |
docker | user name |
uid |
1000 | user identifier |
gid |
1000 | group identifier |
home |
/traefik | home directory of user docker |
login |
admin // traefik | login using compose example |
| Parameter | Value | Default |
|---|---|---|
TZ |
Time Zone | |
DEBUG |
Will activate debug option for container image and app (if available) |
These are the main tags for the image. There is also a tag for each commit and its shorthand sha256 value.
It is of my opinion that the :latest tag is dangerous. Many times, I’ve introduced breaking changes to my images. This would have messed up everything for some people. If you don’t want to change the tag to the latest semver, simply use the short versions of semver. Instead of using :3.5.1 you can use :3 or :3.5. Since on each new version these tags are updated to the latest version of the software, using them is identical to using :latest but at least fixed to a major or minor version.
If you still insist on having the bleeding edge release of this app, simply use the :rolling tag, but be warned! You will get the latest version of the app instantly, regardless of breaking changes or security issues or what so ever. You do this at your own risk!
docker pull 11notes/traefik:3.5.1
docker pull ghcr.io/11notes/traefik:3.5.1
docker pull quay.io/11notes/traefik:3.5.1
Important
This image is not based on another image but uses scratch as the starting layer. The image consists of the following distroless layers that were added:
- 11notes/distroless - contains users, timezones and Root CA certificates
- 11notes/distroless:localhealth - app to execute HTTP requests only on 127.0.0.1
Tip
- Use a reverse proxy like Traefik, Nginx, HAproxy to terminate TLS and to protect your endpoints
- Use Let’s Encrypt DNS-01 challenge to obtain valid SSL certificates for your services
Caution
- If you use the compose example as a base for your individual configuration, please make sure to change the default dashboard login account password
This image is provided to you at your own risk. Always make backups before updating an image to a different version. Check the releases for breaking changes. If you have any problems with using this image simply raise an issue, thanks. If you have a question or inputs please create a new discussion instead of an issue. You can find all my other repositories on github.
created 28.08.2025, 11:55:30 (CET)
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