Disable export of artifacts from an Azure container registry

To prevent registry users in an organization from maliciously or accidentally leaking artifacts outside a virtual network, you can configure the registry's export policy to disable exports.

Export policy is a property introduced in API version 2021-06-01-preview for Premium container registries. The exportPolicy property, when its status is set to disabled, blocks export of artifacts from a network-restricted registry when a user attempts to:

• Import the registry's artifacts to another Azure container registry
• Create a registry export pipeline to transfer artifacts to another container registry

Prerequisites

• A Premium container registry configured with a private endpoint.

• Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Quickstart for Bash in Azure Cloud Shell.

  

• If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.

  • If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.

  • When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.

  • Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

Other requirements to disable exports

• Disable public network access - To disable export of artifacts, public access to the registry must also be disabled (the registry's publicNetworkAccess property must be set to disabled). You can disable public network access to the registry before disabling export or disable it at the same time.

  By disabling access to the registry's public endpoint, you ensure that registry operations are permitted only within the virtual network. Public access to the registry to pull artifacts and perform other operations is prohibited.

• Remove export pipelines - Before setting the registry's exportPolicy status to disabled, delete any existing export pipelines configured on the registry. If a pipeline is configured, you can't change the exportPolicy status.

Disable exportPolicy for an existing registry

When you create a registry, the exportPolicy status is set to enabled by default, which permits artifacts to be exported. You can update the status to disabled using an ARM template or the az resource update command.

ARM template

Include the following JSON to update the exportPolicy status and set the publicNetworkAccess property to disabled. Learn more about deploying resources with ARM templates.

{
[...]
"resources": [
    {
    "type": "Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries",
    "apiVersion": "2021-06-01-preview",
    "name": "myregistry",
    [...]
    "properties": {
      "publicNetworkAccess": "disabled",
      "policies": {
        "exportPolicy": {
          "status": "disabled"
         }
      }
      }
    }
]
[...]
}

Azure CLI

Run az resource update to set the exportPolicy status in an existing registry to disabled. Substitute the names of your registry and resource group.

As shown in this example, when disabling the exportPolicy property, also set the publicNetworkAccess property to disabled.

az resource update --resource-group myResourceGroup \
    --name myregistry \
    --resource-type "Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries" \
    --api-version "2021-06-01-preview" \
    --set "properties.policies.exportPolicy.status=disabled" \
    --set "properties.publicNetworkAccess=disabled"  

The output shows that the export policy status is disabled.

{
  "id": "/subscriptions/xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/myregistry",
  "identity": null,
  "kind": null,
  "location": "centralus",
  "managedBy": null,
  "name": "myregistry",
  "plan": null,
  "properties": {
    [...]
    "policies": {
      "exportPolicy": {
        "status": "disabled"
      },
      "quarantinePolicy": {
        "status": "disabled"
      },
      "retentionPolicy": {
        "days": 7,
        "lastUpdatedTime": "2021-07-20T23:20:30.9985256+00:00",
        "status": "disabled"
      },
      "trustPolicy": {
        "status": "disabled",
        "type": "Notary"
      },
    "privateEndpointConnections": [],
    "provisioningState": "Succeeded",
    "publicNetworkAccess": "Disabled",
    "zoneRedundancy": "Disabled"
[...]
}

Enable exportPolicy

After disabling the exportPolicy status in a registry, you can re-enable it at any time using an ARM template or the az resource update command.

ARM template

Include the following JSON to update the exportPolicy status to enabled. Learn more about deploying resources with ARM templates

{
[...]
"resources": [
    {
    "type": "Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries",
    "apiVersion": "2021-06-01-preview",
    "name": "myregistry",
    [...]
    "properties": {
     "policies": {
        "exportPolicy": {
          "status": "enabled"
         }
      }
      }
    }
]
[...]
}

Azure CLI

Run az resource update to set the exportPolicy status to enabled. Substitute the names of your registry and resource group.

az resource update --resource-group myResourceGroup \
    --name myregistry \
    --resource-type "Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries" \
    --api-version "2021-06-01-preview" \
    --set "properties.policies.exportPolicy.status=enabled"

Next steps

• Learn about Azure Container Registry roles and permissions.
• If you want to prevent accidental deletion of registry artifacts, see Lock container images.
• Learn about built-in Azure policies to secure your Azure container registry