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/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>
• Mirrored image: <your-namespace>/dhi-harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>

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

This guide provides practical examples for using the Harbor Trivy Adapter Hardened Image to integrate Trivy vulnerability scanning with Harbor registry.

What's included in this Harbor Trivy Adapter Hardened Image

This Docker Hardened Harbor Trivy Adapter image includes:

• The scanner-trivy binary: Harbor's REST API adapter for Trivy
• The trivy binary: The Trivy vulnerability scanner

Start the Harbor Trivy Adapter

docker run -d --name harbor-trivy-adapter -p 8080:8080 dhi.io/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>

The adapter starts and listens on port 8080 for HTTP requests from Harbor.

Common use cases

Deploy with Harbor using Docker Compose

You can deploy the Harbor Trivy Adapter alongside Harbor using Docker Compose:

services:
  trivy-adapter:
    image: dhi.io/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>
    container_name: trivy-adapter
    restart: always
    environment:
      SCANNER_LOG_LEVEL: info
      SCANNER_TRIVY_CACHE_DIR: /home/scanner/.cache/trivy
      SCANNER_TRIVY_REPORTS_DIR: /home/scanner/.cache/reports
      SCANNER_TRIVY_VULN_TYPE: "os,library"
      SCANNER_TRIVY_SEVERITY: "UNKNOWN,LOW,MEDIUM,HIGH,CRITICAL"
      SCANNER_API_SERVER_ADDR: ":8080"
    ports:
      - 8080:8080
    volumes:
      - trivy-cache:/home/scanner/.cache

volumes:
  trivy-cache:

Configure in Harbor

1. Log in to Harbor as an administrator.
2. Navigate to Interrogation Services > Scanners.
3. Click New Scanner.
4. Configure the scanner:
   • Name: Trivy
   • Endpoint URL: http://trivy-adapter:8080
5. Click Test Connection to verify.
6. Click Add to save the scanner.

Environment variables

The Harbor Trivy Adapter supports the following environment variables:

Non-hardened images vs Docker Hardened Images

Key differences

Why no shell or package manager?

Docker Hardened Images prioritize security through minimalism:

• Reduced attack surface: Fewer binaries mean fewer potential vulnerabilities
• Immutable infrastructure: Runtime containers shouldn't be modified after deployment
• Compliance ready: Meets strict security requirements for regulated environments

The hardened images intended for runtime don't contain a shell nor any tools for debugging. Common debugging methods for applications built with Docker Hardened Images include:

• Docker Debug⁠ to attach to containers
• Docker's Image Mount feature to mount debugging tools
• Ecosystem-specific debugging approaches

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.

For example, you can use Docker Debug:

docker debug <container-name>

or mount debugging tools with the Image Mount feature:

docker run --rm -it --pid container:my-container \
  --mount=type=image,source=dhi.io/busybox,destination=/dbg,ro \
  --entrypoint /dbg/bin/sh \
  dhi.io/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>

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 the 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 variant 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.

Differences from upstream

The Docker Hardened Image differs from the upstream goharbor/trivy-adapter-photon image in several ways:

Entrypoint and custom CA certificate installation

Upstream behavior:

• Uses an entrypoint script (/home/scanner/entrypoint.sh) that:
  • Automatically installs custom CA certificates from /etc/harbor/ssl and /harbor_cust_cert directories
  • Appends these certificates to the system CA bundle (/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt)
  • Then executes the scanner-trivy binary

DHI behavior:

• Runs the binary directly (/usr/local/bin/scanner-trivy) without the entrypoint wrapper
• Does not automatically install custom CA certificates
• Uses standard system CA certificates from the ca-certificates package

Impact:

For most deployments that use public registries or registries with publicly-trusted certificates, no changes are needed. However, if your Harbor deployment uses custom CA certificates (self-signed or private CA), you'll need to manually configure certificate trust using one of the workarounds below.

Workaround for custom CA certificates:

If you need to use custom CA certificates, you have several options:

1. Use an init container (Kubernetes):

   initContainers:
     - name: install-certs
       image: dhi.io/busybox:1
       command:
         - sh
         - -c
         - |
           cat /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt > /shared-ca-bundle/ca-bundle.crt
           if [ -d /etc/harbor/ssl ]; then
             find /etc/harbor/ssl -name ca.crt -exec cat {} \; >> /shared-ca-bundle/ca-bundle.crt
           fi
           if [ -d /harbor_cust_cert ]; then
             find /harbor_cust_cert \( -name "*.crt" -o -name "*.ca" -o -name "*.pem" \) | while read f; do
               [ -f "$f" ] && cat "$f" >> /shared-ca-bundle/ca-bundle.crt
             done
           fi
       volumeMounts:
         - name: harbor-ssl
           mountPath: /etc/harbor/ssl
           readOnly: true
         - name: harbor-cust-cert
           mountPath: /harbor_cust_cert
           readOnly: true
         - name: shared-ca-bundle
           mountPath: /shared-ca-bundle
   containers:
     - name: trivy-adapter
       image: dhi.io/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>
       env:
         - name: SSL_CERT_FILE
           value: /shared-ca-bundle/ca-bundle.crt
       volumeMounts:
         - name: shared-ca-bundle
           mountPath: /shared-ca-bundle
   volumes:
     - name: harbor-ssl
       secret:
         secretName: harbor-tls-ca
     - name: harbor-cust-cert
       secret:
         secretName: harbor-custom-certs
     - name: shared-ca-bundle
       emptyDir: {}
   

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2. Mount certificates and set SSL_CERT_FILE (Docker/Docker Compose):

   Create a ca-bundle.crt file that contains both the standard system CA certificates and your custom certificates concatenated together. Then mount it into the container:

   services:
     trivy-adapter:
       image: dhi.io/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>
       environment:
         SSL_CERT_FILE: /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
       volumes:
         - ./ca-bundle.crt:/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt:ro
   

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3. Use insecure mode (not recommended for production):

   Set SCANNER_TRIVY_INSECURE=true to skip certificate verification. This should only be used for testing.

Migrate to a Docker Hardened Image

Switching to the hardened Harbor Trivy Adapter image does not require any special changes for most deployments. You can use it as a drop-in replacement for the standard image (goharbor/trivy-adapter-photon) in your existing workflows and configurations. Note that the hardened image runs as UID 65532 (nonroot) instead of UID 10000 (scanner), so update any file permissions or volume mounts accordingly.

Important: If your Harbor deployment uses custom CA certificates (self-signed or private CA), see the "Differences from upstream" section for required configuration changes.

Migration steps

1. Update your image reference.

   Replace the image reference in your Docker run command, Compose file, or Kubernetes manifests:

   • From: goharbor/trivy-adapter-photon:<tag>
   • To: dhi.io/harbor-trivy-adapter:<tag>

2. Update the user ID if necessary.

   The hardened image runs as UID 65532. Update any file permissions or volume mounts:

   chown -R 65532:65532 /path/to/cache
   

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3. All your existing environment variables, port mappings, and network settings remain the same.

4. Test your migration and use the troubleshooting tips below if you encounter any issues.

Troubleshooting 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 (UID 65532). 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. The Harbor Trivy Adapter uses port 8080 by default, which is not a privileged port, so this should not be an issue.

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 and custom CA certificates

The DHI harbor-trivy-adapter uses /usr/local/bin/scanner-trivy as the entrypoint, while the upstream image (goharbor/trivy-adapter-photon) uses /home/scanner/entrypoint.sh. The upstream entrypoint script automatically installs custom CA certificates from /etc/harbor/ssl and /harbor_cust_cert directories before starting the scanner.

If your Harbor deployment uses custom CA certificates, you must manually configure certificate trust. See the "Differences from upstream" section for detailed workarounds including init containers and volume mounts.