diff --git a/.github/workflows/ash-build-and-scan.yml b/.github/workflows/ash-build-and-scan.yml
index 81168cc..2e46d09 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ash-build-and-scan.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ash-build-and-scan.yml
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ jobs:
           set +e
 
           # Run ASH against itself
-          ./ash --source-dir $(pwd) --output-dir ash_output --debug | \
+          ./ash --source-dir $(pwd) --output-dir ash_output --container-uid 1001 --container-gid 123 --debug | \
               tee ash_stdout.txt
 
           # cat the output contents to build the summary markdown
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 45e672b..1d6377a 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,11 +1,27 @@
 #checkov:skip=CKV_DOCKER_7: Base image is using a non-latest version tag by default, Checkov is unable to parse due to the use of ARG
-#checkov:skip=CKV_DOCKER_3: ASH is focused on mounting source code into the container and scanning it, not running services. Setting USER breaks the ability for certain scanners to work correctly.
 #
 # Enable BASE_IMAGE as an overrideable ARG for proxy cache + private registry support
 #
 ARG BASE_IMAGE=public.ecr.aws/docker/library/python:3.10-bullseye
 FROM ${BASE_IMAGE}
 
+#
+# Allow for UID and GID to be set as build arguments to this Dockerfile.
+#
+# Set the default values of UID/GID to non-zero (and above typical low-number UID/GID values which
+# are defined by default).  500 and 100 are not special values or depended upon.
+# Their selection as default values is only to set the default for this container to be non-zero.
+#
+# The actions performed in this image (CMD command) do not require root privileges.
+# Thus, UID/GID are set non-zero to avoid someone inadvertantly running this image in a container
+# that runs privileged and as as root(UID 0).
+#
+# If the environment in which the container will run requires a specific UID/GID, then --build-arg
+# arguments on the ${OCI_RUNNER} build command can be used to over-ride these values.
+#
+ARG UID=500
+ARG GID=100
+
 #
 # Setting timezone in the container to UTC to ensure logged times are universal.
 #
@@ -137,7 +153,34 @@ COPY ./__version__ /ash/__version__
 #
 # Make sure the ash script is executable
 #
-RUN chmod +x /ash/ash
+RUN chmod -R +r /ash && chmod +x /ash/ash
+
+#
+# Create a non-root user in the container and run as this user
+#
+# And add GitHub's public fingerprints to known_hosts inside the image to prevent fingerprint
+# confirmation requests unexpectedly
+#
+ARG ASHUSER_HOME=/home/ash-user
+# ignore a failure to add the group
+RUN addgroup --gid ${GID} ash-group || :
+RUN adduser --disabled-password --disabled-login \
+        --uid ${UID} --gid ${GID} \
+        ash-user && \
+    mkdir -p ${ASHUSER_HOME}/.ssh && \
+    echo "github.com ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIOMqqnkVzrm0SdG6UOoqKLsabgH5C9okWi0dh2l9GKJl" >> ${ASHUSER_HOME}/.ssh/known_hosts && \
+    echo "github.com ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBEmKSENjQEezOmxkZMy7opKgwFB9nkt5YRrYMjNuG5N87uRgg6CLrbo5wAdT/y6v0mKV0U2w0WZ2YB/++Tpockg=" >> ${ASHUSER_HOME}/.ssh/known_hosts && \
+    echo "github.com ssh-rsa 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" >> ${ASHUSER_HOME}/.ssh/known_hosts && \
+    chown -R ${UID}:${GID} ${ASHUSER_HOME}
+# Setting default WORKDIR to ${ASHUSER_HOME}
+WORKDIR ${ASHUSER_HOME}
+
+USER ${UID}:${GID}
+
+#
+# Set the HOME environment variable to be the HOME folder for the non-root user
+#
+ENV HOME=${ASHUSER_HOME}
 
 #
 # Flag ASH as local execution mode since we are running in a container already
diff --git a/ash b/ash
index a47a4b0..6f9c207 100755
--- a/ash
+++ b/ash
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ export ASH_IMAGE_NAME=${ASH_IMAGE_NAME:-"automated-security-helper:local"}
 SOURCE_DIR=""
 OUTPUT_DIR=""
 OUTPUT_DIR_SPECIFIED="NO"
+CONTAINER_UID_SPECIFIED="NO"
+CONTAINER_GID_SPEICIFED="NO"
 DOCKER_EXTRA_ARGS=""
 ASH_ARGS=""
 NO_BUILD="NO"
@@ -37,6 +39,16 @@ while (("$#")); do
       shift
       OCI_RUNNER="$1"
       ;;
+    --container-uid | -u)
+      shift
+      CONTAINER_UID_SPECIFIED="YES"
+      CONTAINER_UID="$1"
+      ;;
+    --container-gid | -u)
+      shift
+      CONTAINER_GID_SPECIFIED="YES"
+      CONTAINER_GID="$1"
+      ;;
     --no-build)
       NO_BUILD="YES"
       ;;
@@ -77,6 +89,12 @@ if [[ "${OUTPUT_DIR_SPECIFIED}" == "YES" ]]; then
   OUTPUT_DIR="$(cd "$OUTPUT_DIR"; pwd)"
 fi
 
+#
+# Gather the UID and GID of the caller
+#
+HOST_UID=$(id -u)
+HOST_GID=$(id -g)
+
 # Resolve the OCI_RUNNER
 RESOLVED_OCI_RUNNER=${OCI_RUNNER:-$(command -v finch || command -v docker || command -v nerdctl || command -v podman)}
 
@@ -93,13 +111,26 @@ else
 
     # Build the image if the --no-build flag is not set
     if [ "${NO_BUILD}" = "NO" ]; then
+      CONTAINER_UID_OPTION=""
+      CONTAINER_GID_OPTION=""
+      if [[ ${CONTAINER_UID_SPECIFIED} = "YES" ]]; then
+        CONTAINER_UID_OPTION="--build-arg UID=${CONTAINER_UID}" # set the UID build-arg if --container-uid is specified
+      else
+        CONTAINER_UID_OPTION="--build-arg UID=${HOST_UID}" # set the UID build-arg to the caller's UID if --container-uid is not specified
+      fi
+      if [[ ${CONTAINER_GID_SPECIFIED} = "YES" ]]; then
+        CONTAINER_GID_OPTION="--build-arg GID=${CONTAINER_GID}" # set the GID build-arg if --container-gid is specified
+      else
+        CONTAINER_GID_OPTION="--build-arg GID=${HOST_GID}" # set the GID build-arg to the caller's GID if --container-uid is not specified
+      fi
       echo "Building image ${ASH_IMAGE_NAME} -- this may take a few minutes during the first build..."
       ${RESOLVED_OCI_RUNNER} build \
+        ${CONTAINER_UID_OPTION} \
+        ${CONTAINER_GID_OPTION} \
         --tag ${ASH_IMAGE_NAME} \
         --file "${ASH_ROOT_DIR}/Dockerfile" \
         ${DOCKER_EXTRA_ARGS} \
         "${ASH_ROOT_DIR}"
-      eval $build_cmd
     fi
 
     # Run the image if the --no-run flag is not set
diff --git a/ash-multi b/ash-multi
index b113b29..ede1451 100755
--- a/ash-multi
+++ b/ash-multi
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ map_extensions_and_files() {
     git config --global --add safe.directory "${_ASH_SOURCE_DIR}" >/dev/null 2>&1
     git config --global --add safe.directory "${_ASH_RUN_DIR}" >/dev/null 2>&1
     if [[ "$(git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>/dev/null)" == "true" ]]; then
-      git clone "${_ASH_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_ASH_RUN_DIR}"
+      git clone "${_ASH_SOURCE_DIR}" "${_ASH_RUN_DIR}" >/dev/null 2>&1
       echo "Repository cloned successfully."
       _ASH_SOURCE_DIR="${_ASH_RUN_DIR}"
     else
@@ -438,6 +438,11 @@ export _ASH_RUN_DIR="${_ASH_RUN_DIR:-$(mktemp -d -p /tmp ash-run-scan.XXXX)}"
 #
 echo -e "\n${LPURPLE}ASH version ${GREEN}$VERSION${NC}\n"
 
+#
+# Print out the uid/gid values in effect
+#
+echo -e "\n${LPURPLE}ASH running with UID/GID: ${CYAN}$(id -u):$(id -g)${NC}\n"
+
 # nosemgrep
 IFS=$'\n' # Support directories with spaces, make the loop iterate over newline instead of space
 pushd . >/dev/null 2>&1
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 669a118..82fbc73 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-# Documentation static site generator & deployment tool
-mkdocs>=1.1.2
-# Material theme for mkdocs
-mkdocs-material>=5.4.0
-# awesome-pages plugin for mkdocs
-mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin==2.8.0
-# Additional mkdocs extensions for prettifying the output
+# Documentation static site generator & deployment tool
+mkdocs>=1.1.2
+# Material theme for mkdocs
+mkdocs-material>=5.4.0
+# awesome-pages plugin for mkdocs
+mkdocs-awesome-pages-plugin==2.8.0
+# Additional mkdocs extensions for prettifying the output
 pymdown-extensions