diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index e41e0d1..50cb2b3 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -31,25 +31,28 @@ ENV CATALINA_OPTS="\$EXTRA_JAVA_OPTS \
 
 # init
 RUN apt update \
-&& apt -y upgrade \
-&& apt install -y --no-install-recommends openssl unzip gdal-bin wget curl openjdk-11-jdk gettext \
-&& apt clean \
-&& rm -rf /var/cache/apt/* \
-&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+    && apt -y upgrade \
+    && apt install -y --no-install-recommends openssl unzip gdal-bin wget curl openjdk-11-jdk gettext \
+    && apt clean \
+    && rm -rf /var/cache/apt/* \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 WORKDIR /opt/
 
 RUN wget -q https://archive.apache.org/dist/tomcat/tomcat-9/v${TOMCAT_VERSION}/bin/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}.tar.gz \
-&& tar xf apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}.tar.gz \
-&& rm apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}.tar.gz \
-&& rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/ROOT \
-&& rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/docs \
-&& rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/examples
+    && tar xf apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}.tar.gz \
+    && rm apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}.tar.gz \
+    && rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/ROOT \
+    && rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/docs \
+    && rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/examples \
+    && rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/host-manager \
+    && rm -rf /opt/apache-tomcat-${TOMCAT_VERSION}/webapps/manager
 
 # cleanup
 RUN apt purge -y  \
-&& apt autoremove --purge -y \
-&& rm -rf /tmp/*
+    && apt autoremove --purge -y \
+    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+    && rm -rf /tmp/*
 
 FROM tomcat as download
 
@@ -62,10 +65,10 @@ ENV GEOSERVER_BUILD=$GS_BUILD
 WORKDIR /tmp
 
 RUN echo "Downloading GeoServer ${GS_VERSION} ${GS_BUILD}" \
-&& wget -q -O /tmp/geoserver.zip $WAR_ZIP_URL \
-&& unzip geoserver.zip geoserver.war -d /tmp/ \
-&& unzip -q /tmp/geoserver.war -d /tmp/geoserver \
-&& rm /tmp/geoserver.war
+    && wget -q -O /tmp/geoserver.zip $WAR_ZIP_URL \
+    && unzip geoserver.zip geoserver.war -d /tmp/ \
+    && unzip -q /tmp/geoserver.war -d /tmp/geoserver \
+    && rm /tmp/geoserver.war
 
 FROM tomcat as install
 
@@ -119,11 +122,35 @@ COPY $ADDITIONAL_FONTS_PATH /usr/share/fonts/truetype/
 RUN rm -rf /tmp/*
 
 # Add default configs
-ADD config $CONFIG_DIR
+COPY config $CONFIG_DIR
+
+# Apply CIS Apache tomcat recommendations regarding server information
+# * Alter the advertised server.info String (2.1 - 2.3)
+RUN cd $CATALINA_HOME/lib \
+    && jar xf catalina.jar org/apache/catalina/util/ServerInfo.properties \
+    && sed -i 's/Apache Tomcat\/'"${TOMCAT_VERSION}"'/i_am_a_teapot/g' org/apache/catalina/util/ServerInfo.properties \
+    && sed -i 's/'"${TOMCAT_VERSION}"'/x.y.z/g' org/apache/catalina/util/ServerInfo.properties \
+    && sed -i 's/^server.built=.*/server.built=/g' org/apache/catalina/util/ServerInfo.properties \
+    && jar uf catalina.jar org/apache/catalina/util/ServerInfo.properties \
+    && rm -rf org/apache/catalina/util/ServerInfo.properties
 
 # copy scripts
 COPY *.sh /opt/
-RUN chmod +x /opt/*.sh
+
+# CIS Docker benchmark: Remove setuid and setgid permissions in the images to prevent privilege escalation attacks within containers.
+RUN find / -perm /6000 -type f -exec chmod a-s {} \; || true
+
+# GeoServer user => restrict access to $CATALINA_HOME and GeoServer directories
+# See also CIS Docker benchmark and docker best practices
+RUN chmod +x /opt/*.sh \
+    && groupadd geoserver  \
+    && useradd --no-log-init -u 2000 -r -g geoserver geoserver \
+    && chown -R geoserver:geoserver $CATALINA_HOME \
+    && chmod g-w,o-rwx $CATALINA_HOME \
+    && chown -R geoserver:geoserver $GEOSERVER_DATA_DIR \
+    && chown -R geoserver:geoserver $GEOSERVER_LIB_DIR
+
+USER geoserver
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["/opt/startup.sh"]
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8c17d2c..01a809e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -144,8 +144,23 @@ To enable a PostgreSQL JNDI resource, provide the following environment variable
 
 In geoserver, you can then reference this JNDI resource using the name `java:comp/env/jdbc/postgres` (if using default).
 
-For advanced customization of the connection pool, you can provide your own customized "context.xml"
-file to Apache Tomcat by mounting it to the container at ``/opt/config_overrides/context.xml``.
+## How to use custom (tomcat) configuration files
+
+This image provides default (tomcat) configurations that are located in the `./config/` subdir.
+
+* `context.xml` (see/compare JNDI feature from above)
+* `server.xml` (security hardened version by default)
+
+In case you want to fully overwrite such a config file, you can do so by mounting it to the `/opt/config_overrides/` directory of a container.
+The `startup.sh` script will then copy (and overwrite) these files to the catalina conf directory before starting tomcat.
+
+Example:
+
+```shell
+docker run -it -p 80:8080 \
+  --mount src="/path/to/my/server.xml",target=/opt/config_overrides/server.xml,type=bind \
+  docker.osgeo.org/geoserver:2.24.1
+```
 
 ## How to use the docker-compose demo?
 
@@ -192,7 +207,6 @@ The following values cannot really be safely changed (as they are used to downlo
 | GEOSERVER_VERSION | Geoserver version (used internally) | `2.24-SNAPSHOT`|
 | GEOSERVER_BUILD | Geosever build (used internally) | `1628` |
 
-
 ## Troubleshooting
 
 ### How to watch geoserver.log from host?
diff --git a/config/context.xml b/config/context.xml
index c38276b..157fb73 100644
--- a/config/context.xml
+++ b/config/context.xml
@@ -17,4 +17,4 @@
               validationQuery="SELECT 1"
               rollbackOnReturn="true"
     />
-</Context>
\ No newline at end of file
+</Context>
diff --git a/config/server.xml b/config/server.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ade9f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/server.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!--
+  Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+  contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+  this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+  The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+  (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+  the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  limitations under the License.
+-->
+<!-- Note:  A "Server" is not itself a "Container", so you may not
+     define subcomponents such as "Valves" at this level.
+     Documentation at /docs/config/server.html
+ -->
+<Server port="8005" shutdown="SHUTDOWN">
+    <Listener className="org.apache.catalina.startup.VersionLoggerListener" />
+    <!-- Security listener. Documentation at /docs/config/listeners.html
+    <Listener className="org.apache.catalina.security.SecurityListener" />
+    -->
+    <!-- APR library loader. Documentation at /docs/apr.html -->
+    <Listener className="org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener" SSLEngine="on" />
+    <!-- Prevent memory leaks due to use of particular java/javax APIs-->
+    <Listener className="org.apache.catalina.core.JreMemoryLeakPreventionListener" />
+    <Listener className="org.apache.catalina.mbeans.GlobalResourcesLifecycleListener" />
+    <Listener className="org.apache.catalina.core.ThreadLocalLeakPreventionListener" />
+
+    <!-- Global JNDI resources
+         Documentation at /docs/jndi-resources-howto.html
+    -->
+    <GlobalNamingResources>
+        <!-- Editable user database that can also be used by
+             UserDatabaseRealm to authenticate users
+        -->
+        <Resource name="UserDatabase" auth="Container"
+                  type="org.apache.catalina.UserDatabase"
+                  description="User database that can be updated and saved"
+                  factory="org.apache.catalina.users.MemoryUserDatabaseFactory"
+                  pathname="conf/tomcat-users.xml" />
+    </GlobalNamingResources>
+
+    <!-- A "Service" is a collection of one or more "Connectors" that share
+         a single "Container" Note:  A "Service" is not itself a "Container",
+         so you may not define subcomponents such as "Valves" at this level.
+         Documentation at /docs/config/service.html
+     -->
+    <Service name="Catalina">
+
+        <!--The connectors can use a shared executor, you can define one or more named thread pools-->
+        <!--
+        <Executor name="tomcatThreadPool" namePrefix="catalina-exec-"
+            maxThreads="150" minSpareThreads="4"/>
+        -->
+
+
+        <!-- A "Connector" represents an endpoint by which requests are received
+             and responses are returned. Documentation at :
+             Java HTTP Connector: /docs/config/http.html
+             Java AJP  Connector: /docs/config/ajp.html
+             APR (HTTP/AJP) Connector: /docs/apr.html
+             Define a non-SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8080
+        -->
+        <!--
+            # 2.6 Turn off TRACE
+        -->
+        <Connector
+            port="8080"
+            protocol="HTTP/1.1"
+            connectionTimeout="20000"
+            redirectPort="8443"
+            maxParameterCount="1000"
+            allowTrace="false"
+            xpoweredBy="false"
+        />
+        <!-- A "Connector" using the shared thread pool-->
+        <!--
+        <Connector executor="tomcatThreadPool"
+                   port="8080" protocol="HTTP/1.1"
+                   connectionTimeout="20000"
+                   redirectPort="8443"
+                   maxParameterCount="1000"
+                   />
+        -->
+        <!-- Define an SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443
+             This connector uses the NIO implementation. The default
+             SSLImplementation will depend on the presence of the APR/native
+             library and the useOpenSSL attribute of the AprLifecycleListener.
+             Either JSSE or OpenSSL style configuration may be used regardless of
+             the SSLImplementation selected. JSSE style configuration is used below.
+        -->
+        <!--
+        <Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11NioProtocol"
+                   maxThreads="150" SSLEnabled="true"
+                   maxParameterCount="1000"
+                   >
+            <SSLHostConfig>
+                <Certificate certificateKeystoreFile="conf/localhost-rsa.jks"
+                             type="RSA" />
+            </SSLHostConfig>
+        </Connector>
+        -->
+        <!-- Define an SSL/TLS HTTP/1.1 Connector on port 8443 with HTTP/2
+             This connector uses the APR/native implementation which always uses
+             OpenSSL for TLS.
+             Either JSSE or OpenSSL style configuration may be used. OpenSSL style
+             configuration is used below.
+        -->
+        <!--
+        <Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol"
+                   maxThreads="150" SSLEnabled="true"
+                   maxParameterCount="1000"
+                   >
+            <UpgradeProtocol className="org.apache.coyote.http2.Http2Protocol" />
+            <SSLHostConfig>
+                <Certificate certificateKeyFile="conf/localhost-rsa-key.pem"
+                             certificateFile="conf/localhost-rsa-cert.pem"
+                             certificateChainFile="conf/localhost-rsa-chain.pem"
+                             type="RSA" />
+            </SSLHostConfig>
+        </Connector>
+        -->
+
+        <!-- Define an AJP 1.3 Connector on port 8009 -->
+        <!--
+        <Connector protocol="AJP/1.3"
+                   address="::1"
+                   port="8009"
+                   redirectPort="8443"
+                   maxParameterCount="1000"
+                   />
+        -->
+
+        <!-- An Engine represents the entry point (within Catalina) that processes
+             every request.  The Engine implementation for Tomcat stand alone
+             analyzes the HTTP headers included with the request, and passes them
+             on to the appropriate Host (virtual host).
+             Documentation at /docs/config/engine.html -->
+
+        <!-- You should set jvmRoute to support load-balancing via AJP ie :
+        <Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="localhost" jvmRoute="jvm1">
+        -->
+        <Engine name="Catalina" defaultHost="localhost">
+
+            <!--For clustering, please take a look at documentation at:
+                /docs/cluster-howto.html  (simple how to)
+                /docs/config/cluster.html (reference documentation) -->
+            <!--
+            <Cluster className="org.apache.catalina.ha.tcp.SimpleTcpCluster"/>
+            -->
+
+            <!-- Use the LockOutRealm to prevent attempts to guess user passwords
+                 via a brute-force attack -->
+            <Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.LockOutRealm">
+                <!-- This Realm uses the UserDatabase configured in the global JNDI
+                     resources under the key "UserDatabase".  Any edits
+                     that are performed against this UserDatabase are immediately
+                     available for use by the Realm.  -->
+                <Realm className="org.apache.catalina.realm.UserDatabaseRealm"
+                       resourceName="UserDatabase"/>
+            </Realm>
+
+            <Host name="localhost"  appBase="webapps"
+                  unpackWARs="true" autoDeploy="true">
+
+                <!-- SingleSignOn valve, share authentication between web applications
+                     Documentation at: /docs/config/valve.html -->
+                <!--
+                <Valve className="org.apache.catalina.authenticator.SingleSignOn" />
+                -->
+
+                <!-- Access log processes all example.
+                     Documentation at: /docs/config/valve.html
+                     Note: The pattern used is equivalent to using pattern="common" -->
+                <Valve className="org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve" directory="logs"
+                       prefix="localhost_access_log" suffix=".txt"
+                       pattern="%h %l %u %t &quot;%r&quot; %s %b" />
+
+            </Host>
+        </Engine>
+    </Service>
+</Server>
diff --git a/startup.sh b/startup.sh
index 99d7874..8bbaeeb 100755
--- a/startup.sh
+++ b/startup.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
-#!/bin/sh
+#!/bin/bash
 echo "Welcome to GeoServer $GEOSERVER_VERSION"
 
+# function that can be used to copy a custom config file to the catalina conf dir
+function copy_custom_config() {
+  CONFIG_FILE=$1
+  # Use a custom "${CONFIG_FILE}" if the user mounted one into the container
+  if [ -d "${CONFIG_OVERRIDES_DIR}" ] && [ -f "${CONFIG_OVERRIDES_DIR}/${CONFIG_FILE}" ]; then
+    echo "Installing configuration override for ${CONFIG_FILE} with substituted environment variables"
+    envsubst < "${CONFIG_OVERRIDES_DIR}"/"${CONFIG_FILE}" > "${CATALINA_HOME}/conf/${CONFIG_FILE}"
+  else
+    # Otherwise use the default
+    echo "Installing default ${CONFIG_FILE} with substituted environment variables"
+    envsubst < "${CONFIG_DIR}"/"${CONFIG_FILE}" > "${CATALINA_HOME}/conf/${CONFIG_FILE}"
+  fi
+}
+
 ## Skip demo data
 if [ "${SKIP_DEMO_DATA}" = "true" ]; then
   unset GEOSERVER_REQUIRE_FILE
@@ -100,15 +114,20 @@ if [ "${POSTGRES_JNDI_ENABLED}" = "true" ]; then
   fi
 
   # Use a custom "context.xml" if the user mounted one into the container
-  if [ -d "${CONFIG_OVERRIDES_DIR}" ] && [ -f "${CONFIG_OVERRIDES_DIR}/context.xml" ]; then
-    echo "Installing configuration override for context.xml with substituted environment variables"
-    envsubst < "${CONFIG_OVERRIDES_DIR}"/context.xml > "${CATALINA_HOME}/conf/context.xml"
-  else
-    # Otherwise use the default
-    echo "Installing default context.xml with substituted environment variables"
-    envsubst < "${CONFIG_DIR}"/context.xml > "${CATALINA_HOME}/conf/context.xml"
-  fi
+  copy_custom_config context.xml
 fi
 
+# Use a custom "server.xml" if the user mounted one into the container
+copy_custom_config server.xml
+
 # start the tomcat
-exec $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh run
+# CIS - Tomcat Benchmark recommendations:
+# * Turn off session facade recycling
+# * Set a nondeterministic Shutdown command value
+if [ ! "${ENABLE_DEFAULT_SHUTDOWN}" = "true" ]; then
+  REPLACEMENT="$(echo $RANDOM | md5sum | head -c 10)"
+  sed -i 's/SHUTDOWN/'"$REPLACEMENT"'/g' "$CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml"
+  REPLACEMENT=
+fi
+
+exec $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh run -Dorg.apache.catalina.connector.RECYCLE_FACADES=true