varnish-fips

Fips

Infra

Stig

Updated 23 hours ago

Varnish-FIPS Overview

Secure your stack with a FIPS-validated, hardened Varnish image freshly-built by Minimus. Minimus images always include the most up-to-date package version for all packages and dependencies contained in the image.

Varnish is a reverse proxy and HTTP accelerator designed to cache web content and serve it at high speed. It intercepts client requests, stores frequently accessed responses in memory, and delivers cached content without repeatedly querying backend servers, significantly reducing latency and server load. Varnish uses a specialized configuration language (VCL) to define caching policies and request routing rules.

FIPS 140-3 Certification

This image is FIPS-validated to ensure its cryptographic operations meet the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) required for secure government and regulated environments. Its core cryptographic modules are validated under the NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) and comply with the FIPS 140-3 standard.

To verify that the FIPS 140-3 provider is configured and active, follow the instructions in the FIPS compliance tab.

Try It Out

Start Varnish pointing at a backend, with recommended memory and tmpfs settings:

docker run -d -p 8080:80 \
    --ulimit memlock=-1:-1 \
    --tmpfs /var/lib/varnish/varnishd:exec \
    -e VARNISH_BACKEND_HOST=https://example.com \
    -e VARNISH_SIZE=256m \
    reg.mini.dev/varnish-fips

To use a custom VCL configuration, mount your file into the container:

docker run -d -p 8080:80 \
    --ulimit memlock=-1:-1 \
    --tmpfs /var/lib/varnish/varnishd:exec \
    -v /path/to/default.vcl:/etc/varnish/default.vcl:ro \
    reg.mini.dev/varnish-fips

To reload VCL without restarting the container:

docker cp default.vcl {container}:/etc/varnish/default.vcl
docker exec {container} varnishreload

Technical Considerations

The Varnish-FIPS image provided by Minimus is a FIPS-validated, slim, security-hardened alternative to the public image. The images are largely interchangeable, with a few differences as noted below.

Varnish-FIPS built by Minimus:

Runs as non-root by default for a security-first approach that protects against privilege escalation attacks.
Drill down on the version specification tab to see the default user, listening ports, entrypoint, volumes, environment variables, etc.

The Payoff

A hardened, minimal image that will remain more secure for the long run and accrue vulnerabilities at a slower rate.

See the risk reduction dashboard for a detailed CVE comparison over the past 30 days.
Review the compliance report to see the default hardening and security configurations for the image.

Terms & Info

Trademark

This catalog is published by Minimus. All product names, logos, and marks, other than those belonging to Minimus, shown are owned by their respective rights holders and appear here only to identify the open source software each image contains. Minimus claims no ownership of those marks and implies no affiliation with, endorsement by, certification by, or sponsorship by any rights holder.

Disclaimer

Images are provided "as-is" without warranty of any kind. "Hardened" refers to the security configuration applied at the time of build and does not constitute a guarantee of ongoing security or absence of vulnerabilities. The free tier is provided without support, SLA, or guaranteed patching timelines. Security updates may be applied to paid subscriptions before or instead of free tier images. By pulling or using any image you agree to our Terms of Use.