How to run Apache as non-root user? - apache

Question

I'm building an image from the following Dockerfile and following command docker build --rm -f "Dockerfile" -t non_root_image_plz_work .:
DockerFile
FROM node:14.7.0-buster-slim AS apache_for_selenium
# Create non-root group and user
RUN addgroup --system shared-folder \
&& adduser --system --home /var/cache/shared-folder --group shared-folder --uid 1001
# Make Port accessable
EXPOSE 80/tcp
# Set Node env.Name
ENV NODE_ENV=dev
RUN apt-get -qq update && apt-get -qq install -y --no-install-recommends nano git openssl bash musl curl apache2 apache2-utils systemd && \
systemctl enable apache2 && npm config set registry http://localhost:5000/repository/repo && \
npm i -g pm2 serve && mkdir /usr/share/shared-folder
RUN ln -sf /dev/stdout /var/log/apache2/access.log && \
ln -sf /dev/stderr /var/log/apache2/error.log
WORKDIR /usr/share/shared-folder
COPY . /usr/share/shared-folder/
RUN npm install && npm cache clean --force && npm cache verify && \
rm /var/www/html/index.html && \
ln -s /usr/share/shared-folder/mochawesome-report /var/www/html/mochawesome-report && \
chown www-data -R /var/www/html/mochawesome-report && chgrp www-data -R /var/www/html/mochawesome-report
VOLUME /usr/share/shared-folder/mochawesome-report
USER 1001
CMD [ "sh", "-c", "service apache2 start ; pm2-runtime process.yml --no-daemon" ]
When I try to run the image using docker run non_root_image_plz_work, I get the following error:
Error after running docker run command:
Starting Apache httpd web server: apache2 failed!
The apache2 configtest failed. ... (warning).
Output of config test was:
mkdir: cannot create directory '/var/run/apache2': Permission denied
chown: changing ownership of '/var/lock/apache2.3FGoa8Y71E': Operation not permitted
It seems to be a permissions issue, as if I'm not properly running the container as a non-root user. Any suggestions on how I can get the container to run properly as a non-root user?
Note: I used a dummy registry in the Dockerfile for I don't want to show the actual registry, thanks

Answer 1

In Docker, all folders are owned by root. Without knowing your directory structure, I guess your problem is, that your user 1001 (or the setup programm which is run with 1001's permission) tries to access directories that (probably) are owned by root.
Either you can try:
Change your permissions of the folders.
This can be used of you know which folders are accessed and want to prevent further permission issues.
chmod -R 777 /path/to/folder
Give your user proper permissions.
Here is a very quick walkthrough. Please comment if it didn't slove your problem and I'll try to update this for a more specific answer.
A small example (taken from here).
You can setup your non-root-user foo with passwordless access:
RUN \
groupadd -g 1001 foo && useradd -u 1001 -g foo -G sudo -m -s /bin/bash 1001
&& \
sed -i /etc/sudoers -re 's/^%sudo.*/%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL/g' && \
sed -i /etc/sudoers -re 's/^root.*/root ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL/g' && \
sed -i /etc/sudoers -re 's/^#includedir.*/## **Removed the include directive** ##"/g' && \
echo "foo ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers; su - foo -c id
Hint: You will probably need to install sudo
apt-get install sudo
Now, try running the entrypoint (or your commad) with sudo.
EDIT:
I've updated the answer to match your Docker-File. Have a look at it. The user nonroot is assigned uuid 1001 and added to /etc/sudoers. Also your command is now run with sudo which should prevent the permission issues.
FROM node:14.7.0-buster-slim AS apache_for_selenium
# Create non-root group and user
RUN addgroup --system shared-folder \
&& adduser --system --home /var/cache/shared-folder --ingroup shared-folder --uid 1001 nonroot
# Make Port accessable
EXPOSE 80/tcp
# Set Node env.Name
ENV NODE_ENV=dev
RUN apt-get -qq update && apt-get -qq install -y --no-install-recommends \
sudo nano git openssl bash musl curl apache2 apache2-utils systemd \
&& systemctl enable apache2
#\
# && #npm config set registry http://localhost:5000/repository/repo && \
#npm i -g pm2 serve && mkdir /usr/share/shared-folder
RUN ln -sf /dev/stdout /var/log/apache2/access.log && \
ln -sf /dev/stderr /var/log/apache2/error.log
WORKDIR /usr/share/shared-folder
COPY . /usr/share/shared-folder/
RUN npm install && npm cache clean --force && npm cache verify && \
rm /var/www/html/index.html && \
ln -s /usr/share/shared-folder/mochawesome-report /var/www/html/mochawesome-report && \
chown www-data -R /var/www/html/mochawesome-report && chgrp www-data -R /var/www/html/mochawesome-report
VOLUME /usr/share/shared-folder/mochawesome-report
RUN \
sed -i /etc/sudoers -re 's/^%sudo.*/%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL/g' && \
sed -i /etc/sudoers -re 's/^root.*/root ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL/g' && \
sed -i /etc/sudoers -re 's/^#includedir.*/## **Removed the include directive** ##"/g' && \
echo "nonroot ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" >> /etc/sudoers
USER nonroot
CMD [ "sudo sh", "-c", "service apache2 start ; pm2-runtime process.yml --no-daemon" ]

Answer 2

The problem here: apache is special user. it only can start by root user.
you can not start apache by another user. That why you got permission deny.
Seen i saw your dockerfile. your user created is normal user.
Try make script like below with name apache-start :
#!/bin/sh
set -e
# Apache gets grumpy about PID files pre-existing
rm -f /usr/local/apache2/logs/httpd.pid
exec httpd -DFOREGROUND "$#"
and your docker file should be like
FROM node:14.7.0-buster-slim AS apache_for_selenium
# Create non-root group and user
RUN addgroup --system shared-folder \
&& adduser --system --home /var/cache/shared-folder --group shared-folder --uid 1001
# Make Port accessable
EXPOSE 80/tcp
# Set Node env.Name
ENV NODE_ENV=dev
RUN apt-get -qq update && apt-get -qq install -y --no-install-recommends nano git openssl bash musl curl apache2 apache2-utils systemd && \
systemctl enable apache2 && npm config set registry http://localhost:5000/repository/repo && \
npm i -g pm2 serve && mkdir /usr/share/shared-folder
RUN ln -sf /dev/stdout /var/log/apache2/access.log && \
ln -sf /dev/stderr /var/log/apache2/error.log
WORKDIR /usr/share/shared-folder
COPY . /usr/share/shared-folder/
RUN npm install && npm cache clean --force && npm cache verify && \
rm /var/www/html/index.html && \
ln -s /usr/share/shared-folder/mochawesome-report /var/www/html/mochawesome-report && \
chown www-data -R /var/www/html/mochawesome-report && chgrp www-data -R /var/www/html/mochawesome-report
VOLUME /usr/share/shared-folder/mochawesome-report
COPY apache-start /usr/local/bin/
CMD ["apache-start"]
USER 1001

Answer 3

Another option is to switch to podman tool which is an alternative to Docker. With podman you can run containers (the same images you use in Docker) but with normal users. That has a lot of benefits specially from security point of view.