How to use this image

All examples in this guide use the public image. If you've mirrored the repository for your own use (for example, to your Docker Hub namespace), update your commands to reference the mirrored image instead of the public one.

For example:

• Public image: dhi.io/aws-efs-csi-driver:<tag>
• Mirrored image: <your-namespace>/dhi-aws-efs-csi-driver:<tag>

For the examples, you must first use docker login dhi.io to authenticate to the registry to pull the images.

Deploy the AWS EFS CSI Driver

The AWS EFS CSI Driver is a Kubernetes-native component deployed as a DaemonSet (node plugin) and Deployment (controller). It is not intended to be run as a standalone container. The recommended deployment method is via the official Helm chart, using the DHI image as a drop-in replacement for the upstream image.

Prerequisites

Before deploying the driver, ensure you have:

• A running Kubernetes cluster (EKS or self-managed on AWS EC2)
• An existing Amazon EFS file system in the same AWS region and VPC as your cluster
• IAM permissions configured for the driver (see IAM permissions⁠ below)
• Helm v3 or later installed

IAM permissions

The driver requires IAM permissions to manage EFS access points and describe file systems. Create an IAM policy with the following permissions and attach it to your cluster nodes or use IAM Roles for Service Accounts (IRSA):

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticfilesystem:DescribeAccessPoints",
        "elasticfilesystem:DescribeFileSystems",
        "elasticfilesystem:DescribeMountTargets",
        "ec2:DescribeAvailabilityZones"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticfilesystem:CreateAccessPoint"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringLike": {
          "aws:RequestTag/efs.csi.aws.com/cluster": "true"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "elasticfilesystem:TagResource"
      ],
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringLike": {
          "aws:ResourceTag/efs.csi.aws.com/cluster": "true"
        }
      }
    },
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": "elasticfilesystem:DeleteAccessPoint",
      "Resource": "*",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "aws:ResourceTag/efs.csi.aws.com/cluster": "true"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Deploy with Helm

Add the Helm repository and install the driver, overriding the image to use the DHI image:

helm repo add aws-efs-csi-driver https://kubernetes-sigs.github.io/aws-efs-csi-driver/
helm repo update aws-efs-csi-driver

helm upgrade --install aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --namespace kube-system \
  aws-efs-csi-driver/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.repository=dhi.io/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.tag=2

To use a mirrored image from your own registry:

helm upgrade --install aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --namespace kube-system \
  aws-efs-csi-driver/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.repository=<your-namespace>/dhi-aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.tag=2

To use IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts) with a pre-created service account:

helm upgrade --install aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --namespace kube-system \
  aws-efs-csi-driver/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.repository=dhi.io/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.tag=2 \
  --set controller.serviceAccount.create=false \
  --set controller.serviceAccount.name=efs-csi-controller-sa

Common AWS EFS CSI Driver use cases

Static provisioning

Static provisioning lets you mount an existing EFS file system as a Kubernetes PersistentVolume. You must create the EFS file system in AWS first, then reference its file system ID in the PersistentVolume manifest.

Create a StorageClass, PersistentVolume, and PersistentVolumeClaim:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: efs-sc
provisioner: efs.csi.aws.com
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: efs-pv
spec:
  capacity:
    storage: 5Gi
  volumeMode: Filesystem
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
  storageClassName: efs-sc
  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
  csi:
    driver: efs.csi.aws.com
    volumeHandle: fs-0123456789abcdef0   # Replace with your EFS file system ID
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: efs-claim
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
  storageClassName: efs-sc
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 5Gi

Apply the manifests and use the PVC in a Pod:

kubectl apply -f efs-static.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: efs-app
spec:
  containers:
    - name: app
      image: busybox
      command: ["/bin/sh"]
      args: ["-c", "while true; do echo $(date -u) >> /data/out; sleep 5; done"]
      volumeMounts:
        - name: persistent-storage
          mountPath: /data
  volumes:
    - name: persistent-storage
      persistentVolumeClaim:
        claimName: efs-claim

Dynamic provisioning

Dynamic provisioning automatically creates an EFS Access Point for each PersistentVolumeClaim. You must create the EFS file system in AWS first and provide its ID in the StorageClass parameters.

kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: efs-sc
provisioner: efs.csi.aws.com
parameters:
  provisioningMode: efs-ap
  fileSystemId: fs-0123456789abcdef0   # Replace with your EFS file system ID
  directoryPerms: "700"
  gidRangeStart: "1000"
  gidRangeEnd: "2000"
  basePath: "/dynamic_provisioning"
  subPathPattern: "${.PVC.namespace}/${.PVC.name}"
  ensureUniqueDirectory: "true"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: efs-claim
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
  storageClassName: efs-sc
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 5Gi

Using the FIPS variant

The 2-fips tag provides a FIPS 140-validated build of the AWS EFS CSI Driver. Use this variant in environments that require FIPS-compliant cryptographic operations, such as US federal government workloads.

Deploy the FIPS variant with Helm:

helm upgrade --install aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --namespace kube-system \
  aws-efs-csi-driver/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.repository=dhi.io/aws-efs-csi-driver \
  --set image.tag=2-fips \
  --set useFIPS=true

The --set useFIPS=true Helm parameter instructs the driver to use FIPS endpoints for AWS API calls (AWS_USE_FIPS_ENDPOINT=true). FIPS endpoints are only available in US and Canada AWS regions. Do not set useFIPS=true in regions without FIPS endpoint support, as this will cause invalid endpoint errors.

Non-hardened images vs. Docker Hardened Images

The following table summarizes the key differences between the upstream public.ecr.aws/efs-csi-driver/amazon/aws-efs-csi-driver image and this Docker Hardened Image.

amazon-efs-utils not included

The upstream image bundles amazon-efs-utils, an Amazon Linux-specific package that provides the mount.efs helper script. This helper orchestrates TLS encryption in transit by managing stunnel connections and EFS-specific configuration files under /etc/amazon/efs/.

The DHI image is built on Debian 13 and amazon-efs-utils is not available in Debian package repositories. The DHI image includes stunnel4, mount, and mount.nfs4 (from nfs-common) directly, which are the underlying tools that amazon-efs-utils depends on.

Impact: EFS mounts that rely on the mount.efs helper for TLS encryption in transit will not work with the DHI image. Standard NFS4 mounts (without TLS) are fully supported. If your workload requires encryption in transit via the EFS mount helper, use the upstream Amazon Linux-based image for the node plugin component.

Cross-account EFS mounts not supported

The upstream image includes Python 3.11 and the botocore library, which amazon-efs-utils uses to support cross-account EFS mounts. Since neither amazon-efs-utils nor Python is included in the DHI image, cross-account EFS mounts are not supported.

Run user and Kubernetes security context

The DHI image defaults to running as nonroot (uid 65532). However, the official Helm chart sets securityContext.runAsUser: 0 for both the controller and node pods, which overrides the image's default user. When deploying via Helm with default values, the driver runs as root as required for filesystem mount operations.

If you deploy the driver using custom manifests without the Helm chart's security context overrides, add the following to your pod spec to ensure the driver can perform mount operations:

securityContext:
  runAsUser: 0
  runAsGroup: 0
  fsGroup: 0

Image variants

Docker Hardened Images come in different variants depending on their intended use. Image variants are identified by their tag.

• Runtime variants are designed to run your application in production. These images are intended to be used either directly or as the FROM image in the final stage of a multi-stage build. These images typically:

  • Run as a nonroot user
  • Do not include a shell or a package manager
  • Contain only the minimal set of libraries needed to run the app

• Build-time variants typically include dev in the tag name and are intended for use in the first stage of a multi-stage Dockerfile. These images typically:

  • Run as the root user
  • Include a shell and package manager
  • Are used to build or compile applications

• FIPS variants include fips in the variant name and tag. They come in both runtime and build-time variants. These variants use cryptographic modules that have been validated under FIPS 140, a U.S. government standard for secure cryptographic operations. For example, usage of MD5 fails in FIPS variants.

To view the image variants and get more information about them, select the Tags tab for this repository, and then select a tag.

Migrate to a Docker Hardened Image

To migrate your application to a Docker Hardened Image, you must update your Dockerfile. At minimum, you must update the base image in your existing Dockerfile to a Docker Hardened Image. This and a few other common changes are listed in the following table of migration notes.

The following steps outline the general migration process.

1. Find hardened images for your app.

   A hardened image may have several variants. Inspect the image tags and find the image variant that meets your needs.

2. Update the base image in your Dockerfile.

   Update the base image in your application's Dockerfile to the hardened image you found in the previous step. For framework images, this is typically going to be an image tagged as dev because it has the tools needed to install packages and dependencies.

3. For multi-stage Dockerfiles, update the runtime image in your Dockerfile.

   To ensure that your final image is as minimal as possible, you should use a multi-stage build. All stages in your Dockerfile should use a hardened image. While intermediary stages will typically use images tagged as dev, your final runtime stage should use a non-dev image variant.

4. Install additional packages

   Docker Hardened Images contain minimal packages in order to reduce the potential attack surface. You may need to install additional packages in your Dockerfile. Inspect the image variants to identify which packages are already installed.

   Only images tagged as dev typically have package managers. You should use a multi-stage Dockerfile to install the packages. Install the packages in the build stage that uses a dev image. Then, if needed, copy any necessary artifacts to the runtime stage that uses a non-dev image.

   For Alpine-based images, you can use apk to install packages. For Debian-based images, you can use apt-get to install packages.

Troubleshooting migration

The following are common issues that you may encounter during migration.

General debugging

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. The recommended method for debugging applications built with Docker Hardened Images is to use Docker Debug⁠ to attach to these containers. Docker Debug provides a shell, common debugging tools, and lets you install other tools in an ephemeral, writable layer that only exists during the debugging session.

Permissions

By default image variants intended for runtime, run as the nonroot user. Ensure that necessary files and directories are accessible to the nonroot user. You may need to copy files to different directories or change permissions so your application running as the nonroot user can access them.

Privileged ports

Non-dev hardened images run as a nonroot user by default. As a result, applications in these images can't bind to privileged ports (below 1024) when running in Kubernetes or in Docker Engine versions older than 20.10. To avoid issues, configure your application to listen on port 1025 or higher inside the container, even if you map it to a lower port on the host. For example, docker run -p 80:8080 my-image will work because the port inside the container is 8080, and docker run -p 80:81 my-image won't work because the port inside the container is 81.

No shell

By default, image variants intended for runtime don't contain a shell. Use dev images in build stages to run shell commands and then copy any necessary artifacts into the runtime stage. In addition, use Docker Debug to debug containers with no shell.

Entry point

Docker Hardened Images may have different entry points than images such as Docker Official Images. Use docker inspect to inspect entry points for Docker Hardened Images and update your Dockerfile if necessary.