alt Hacker NewsI don't really know of any distro that doesn't do that. All of Docker Inc. default installs and all of distros I know of don't automatically add you to the docker group. docker.com instructions has the infamous "linux post-install instructions" that explain and walk you though it.
The tragedy is of course that when security and usability collide, 80/20 rule will apply where 80% of people will pick usability over security. I have worked with many with the title >= "Senior Engineers" who saw that page, read the explanation, and still had no idea what the ramifications of their changes were. "Yeah sure it said any user in the docker group will be able to get root on the host, but aren't containers isolated?"
That’s the mental model that works for people, specifically those that come from VM workflow.
Ironically that’s how Docker works on every platform where it’s running a non-native OS. On macOS that’s how all images are run. Linux on Linux is the only Docker combination that is particularly problematic from a security perspective.
Virtualisation has advanced greatly since docker was introduced, if your running in local hardware that’s supports virtualisation, Docker should be running images fully virtualised. There is no good reason to use the OS kernel for most use cases as the performance impact is negligible. If you need kernel access there are better options, like systemd containers.