Reducing CVEs in Elastic container images

Elastic has embarked on a mission to reduce Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) in their container images by leveraging minimal base images from the Chainguard project, which emphasizes a secure software supply chain. This initiative, beginning with Elastic Stack version 8.16, has led to a significant reduction in vulnerabilities, as seen with the recent release of Elasticsearch 8.16 and the ongoing development of version 8.17. The effort is supported by a comprehensive vulnerability management strategy that includes predefined service level objectives, continuous monitoring, and the use of tools like Renovate to automate updates. Additionally, Elastic employs best practices such as using Docker multistage builds and distroless images to minimize the attack surface of their containers. The project is underpinned by the use of Chainguard images, which are synchronized with the Elastic container registry, ensuring secure and efficient deployment for both developers and production environments.