Question: Pod Fails Due to SecurityContext - runAsNonRoot#2
Question: Pod Fails Due to SecurityContext - runAsNonRoot#2felix-codexyz wants to merge 12 commits intokubeskills:mainfrom
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… won't run due to runAsNonRoot error
Reconcile local and remote
| I expected the image to run securely, but it defaults to root. What’s the best practice when securing containers without customizing the image manually? | ||
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| ## My confusion: | ||
| I understand that security is a priority but what is the use of security when it prevents pods from running? |
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Great question! I was hoping someone would catch this :)
The reason this happens is that the nginx:latest image runs as UID 0 (root) by default.
When runAsNonRoot: true is set, Kubernetes enforces that the container must not run as UID 0. If the image does not specify a non-root user and defaults to root, the pod will fail to start—even if the container does not request elevated privileges.
In images built this way, you can’t override the behavior cleanly unless you explicitly set a different runAsUser. However, this may still fail if the container process requires root privileges or lacks appropriate file ownerships.
For production environments, it’s best to avoid the official nginx:latest image and instead use a hardened or unprivileged variant designed for non-root execution (e.g., nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged).
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Thank you Chad, your suggestion fixed the issue.
Image: nginx:latest has ben replaced by: nginxinc/nginx-unprivileged
The pods are now all in the running state.
Now to the next steps!
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