[SOLVED] PMG LXC container: Question about nesting and security

[laurensb]

Running PMG as LXC container on Proxmox Virtual Environment. Just upgraded it from 6.4 to 7.0.

When troubleshooting slow SSH logins I found the solution is to enable nesting (https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/delay-to-log-in-ssh-session-after-upgrade-from-6-x-to-7-x.92755/), and it worked, SSH is fast again. Enabling nesting also fixed some syncing problems between nodes (https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/issue-with-sync.94151/). However, according to Oguz it's considered less secure to enable it on a container: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/question-on-nested-option-lxc-container.86497/post-379642.

PMG 6.x didn't need it, is it intended that 7.x needs nesting? Seems a bit awkward that security is weakened with 7.x.

 

[Stoiko Ivanov]

PMG 6.x didn't need it, is it intended that 7.x needs nesting? Seems a bit awkward that security is weakened with 7.x.

PMG 6.x was based on debian buster and had thus an older version of systemd packaged then 7.x which is based on debian bullseye.
newer versions of systemd need access to proc in order to do their own isolation of unit's

since your PMG container is unprivileged enabling nesting should not pose a too large security risk (a regular user on your system can also not elevate their privileges by having access to /proc and /sys)

I hope this explains it!

 

[laurensb]

Aha, clear! Thanks for the quick clarification.

As I understand this will be the same for all future (upgraded and new) Debian 11 and other containers with new systemd version. Might be an idea to make a note in the upgrade guides for PVE and PMG.