Missing zypper clean

LOW

RUN uses 'zypper install' without 'zypper clean'. This increases image size.

Rule Information

Language
Docker
Category
Best Practice
Author
Shivasurya
Shivasurya
Last Updated
2026-03-22
Tags
dockerdockerfilezypperpackage-manageropensusesusecachecleanupimage-sizeoptimizationbest-practice
CWE References

Interactive Playground

Experiment with the vulnerable code and security rule below. Edit the code to see how the rule detects different vulnerability patterns.

pathfinder scan --ruleset docker/DOCKER-BP-020 --project .
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rule.py
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About This Rule

Understanding the vulnerability and how it is detected

Detects 'zypper install' commands without subsequent 'zypper clean'. Package manager caches unnecessarily increase image size by storing package metadata and repository information that is not needed at runtime.

How to Fix

Recommended remediation steps

  • 1Review your Dockerfile to address the missing zypper clean issue
  • 2Follow Docker official best practices for image building
  • 3Use docker build --check to validate Dockerfile syntax and best practices

References

External resources and documentation

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Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Missing zypper clean

RUN uses 'zypper install' without 'zypper clean'. This increases image size.
Review the secure code example in the playground above and apply the recommended pattern to your Dockerfile or docker-compose.yml.

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