fix: run as root by default to eliminate stack-folder permission failures (#501)

Every filesystem operation against user compose folders (save, create,
deploy, update, rollback, template install, fleet snapshot restore)
previously failed with EACCES whenever a stack container had chowned
its own bind mount to another UID, which is extremely common with
linuxserver/* images and anything that runs as root by default.

Running Sencho as root eliminates the entire class of permission bugs
at the source and matches the default posture of Portainer, Dockge,
Komodo, and Yacht. Mounting /var/run/docker.sock is already equivalent
to root-on-host, so the previous non-root hardening provided essentially
no additional isolation while breaking real features.

Changes:

- docker-entrypoint.sh: default path stays root, no GID dance, no
  privilege drop. Opt-out via SENCHO_USER=sencho restores the legacy
  behavior bit-for-bit (chown data dir, match Docker socket GID,
  su-exec to the user). Fails fast if SENCHO_USER names a nonexistent
  account. Kubernetes / OpenShift forced-non-root compat preserved via
  the existing id -u = 0 guard.
- FileSystemService: delete forceDeleteViaDocker (the ~40-line helper
  that shelled out to an alpine container to work around EACCES during
  deleteStack) and simplify deleteStack to a single fsPromises.rm call.
  Tests updated accordingly.
- Dockerfile: keep the sencho user+group pre-created so the opt-out
  path works out of the box; comments updated to document the new
  default.
- Docs: new "Container user" section in configuration.mdx documenting
  the root default and the SENCHO_USER opt-out; troubleshooting and
  self-hosting updated to match.
This commit is contained in:
Anso
2026-04-10 21:35:31 -04:00
committed by GitHub
parent f33c12fb36
commit 9eb945a6f0
8 changed files with 138 additions and 245 deletions
+7 -10
View File
@@ -43,19 +43,16 @@ Sencho requires three volume mounts to function correctly:
## Docker socket security
Mounting the Docker socket (`/var/run/docker.sock`) grants the container the ability to manage all containers, images, volumes, and networks on the host. This is equivalent to root access on the host machine.
Mounting the Docker socket (`/var/run/docker.sock`) grants the container the ability to manage all containers, images, volumes, and networks on the host. This is equivalent to root access on the host machine, regardless of which user the Sencho process itself runs as.
Sencho mitigates this with privilege dropping:
Because the Docker socket is already the effective privilege boundary, Sencho runs as `root` inside the container by default. This matches Portainer, Dockge, Komodo, and Yacht, and ensures Sencho can always write to your compose folders, even when a stack container (for example anything from `linuxserver/*`) has chowned its own bind mount. See [Configuration: Container user](/getting-started/configuration#container-user) for details on the default and the `SENCHO_USER` opt-out.
1. The container starts as root to fix volume ownership and resolve Docker socket group permissions
2. The entrypoint script then drops to a non-root `sencho` user
3. All application code runs as the `sencho` user
If your environment requires stricter isolation, the Docker socket itself is the right place to focus:
If your environment requires stricter isolation, consider:
- Running Sencho on a dedicated Docker host
- Using Docker's `--userns-remap` for user namespace isolation
- Placing Sencho behind a reverse proxy with authentication (see [Configuration](/getting-started/configuration#reverse-proxy-setup))
- Running Sencho on a dedicated Docker host so a compromise cannot reach unrelated workloads
- Using Docker's `--userns-remap` for user namespace isolation at the daemon level
- Running Sencho behind a reverse proxy with authentication (see [Configuration](/getting-started/configuration#reverse-proxy-setup)) so the UI is not exposed to untrusted networks
- Setting `SENCHO_USER=sencho` to drop privileges inside the container as a defense-in-depth measure, accepting that filesystem writes to permission-restricted stack folders will fail in that mode
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