I usually expose ports like `127.0.0.1:1234:1234` instead of `1234:1234`. As far as I understand, it still punches holes this way but to access the container, an attacker would need to get a packet routed to the host with a spoofed IP SRC set to `127.0.0.1`. All other solutions that are better seem to be much more involved.
@globular-toast was not suggesting an iptables setup on a VM, instead they are suggesting to have a firewall on a totally different device/VM than the one running docker. Sure, you can do that with iptables and /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward (see https://serverfault.com/questions/564866/how-to-set-up-linux...) but that's a whole new level of complexity for someone who is not an experienced network admin (plus you now need to pay for 2 VMs and keep them both patched).
The problem here is the user does not understand that exposing 8080 on external network means it is reachable by everyone. If you use an internal network between database and application, cache and application, application and reverse proxy, and put proper auth on reverse proxy, you're good to go. Guides do suggest this. They even explain LE for reverse proxy.