Chainguard Container for strongswan

strongSwan is an OpenSource IPsec-based VPN solution

Chainguard Containers are regularly-updated, secure-by-default container images.

Download this Container Image

For those with access, this container image is available on cgr.dev:

docker pull cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/strongswan:latest

Be sure to replace the ORGANIZATION placeholder with the name used for your organization's private repository within the Chainguard Registry.

Compatibility Notes

Since there isn't an official upstream image, we have built our own. It closely references the strongX509/docker community project, which also contains helpful configuration files if you would like to review strongSwan's functionalities

Getting Started

The following script demonstrates how to set up a VPN server and client using the StrongSwan image:

#!/bin/bash

# Clone the StrongSwan Docker repository
git clone https://github.com/strongX509/docker.git
cd docker

# Create networks
docker network create --subnet=192.168.0.0/24 internet
docker network create --subnet=10.1.0.0/16 intranet

# Run VPN server container
docker run --privileged --rm -d \
  --name vpn-server --net internet --ip 192.168.0.2 \
  --net intranet --ip 10.1.0.2 \
  --cap-add=NET_ADMIN --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN --cap-add=SYS_MODULE \
  -v $(pwd)/strongswan/server:/etc/swanctl \
  -v $(pwd)/strongswan/strongswan.conf:/etc/strongswan.conf \
  "cgr.dev/chainguard/strongswan:latest"

# Connect VPN server to intranet network
docker network connect --ip 10.1.0.2 intranet vpn-server

# Start StrongSwan Charon daemon in the VPN server container
docker exec -d vpn-server /usr/lib/strongswan/charon

# Run VPN client container
docker run --privileged --rm -d \
  --name vpn-client --net internet --ip 192.168.0.3 \
  --cap-add=NET_ADMIN --cap-add=SYS_ADMIN --cap-add=SYS_MODULE \
  -v $(pwd)/strongswan/client:/etc/swanctl \
  -v $(pwd)/strongswan/strongswan.conf:/etc/strongswan.conf \
  "cgr.dev/chainguard/strongswan:latest"

# List connections from the VPN client
docker exec -it vpn-client swanctl --list-conns

Documentation and Resources

To better understand the available configuration options and features, you can explore the strongSwan documentation. It provides comprehensive details about IPsec protocols, configuration guides, and deployment scenarios for secure VPN setups.

You may also find the following resources to be helpful:

• StrongSwan Official Website
• strongX509/docker

What are Chainguard Containers?

Chainguard Containers are minimal container images that are secure by default.

In many cases, the Chainguard Containers tagged as :latest contain only an open-source application and its runtime dependencies. These minimal container images typically do not contain a shell or package manager. Chainguard Containers are built with Wolfi, our Linux undistro designed to produce container images that meet the requirements of a more secure software supply chain.

The main features of Chainguard Containers include:

• Minimal design, without unnecessary software bloat
• Daily builds to ensure container images are up-to-date with available security patches
• High quality build-time SBOMs attesting to the provenance of all artifacts within the image
• Verifiable signatures provided by Sigstore
• Reproducible builds with Cosign and apko (read more about reproducibility)

For cases where you need container images with shells and package managers to build or debug, most Chainguard Containers come paired with a -dev variant.

Although the -dev container image variants have similar security features as their more minimal versions, they feature additional software that is typically not necessary in production environments. We recommend using multi-stage builds to leverage the -dev variants, copying application artifacts into a final minimal container that offers a reduced attack surface that won’t allow package installations or logins.

Learn More

To better understand how to work with Chainguard Containers, please visit Chainguard Academy and Chainguard Courses.

In addition to Containers, Chainguard offers VMs and Libraries. Contact Chainguard to access additional products.

Trademarks

This software listing is packaged by Chainguard. The trademarks set forth in this offering are owned by their respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement by such companies.