Question 1

What is Kubernetes security?

Accepted Answer

Kubernetes security encompasses the practices, tools, and configurations used to protect Kubernetes clusters, workloads, and data. It includes authentication, authorization (RBAC), network policies, pod security standards, secrets management, and runtime security.

Question 2

What is the CKS certification?

Accepted Answer

The Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist (CKS) is a CNCF certification that validates expertise in securing Kubernetes clusters. It covers cluster setup and hardening, system hardening, minimizing microservice vulnerabilities, and supply chain security.

Question 3

What are Kubernetes network policies?

Accepted Answer

Network policies are Kubernetes resources that control pod-to-pod and pod-to-external traffic. They act as a firewall for your cluster, allowing you to specify which pods can communicate with each other based on labels, namespaces, and ports.

Question 4

What are Pod Security Standards?

Accepted Answer

Pod Security Standards (PSS) are predefined security profiles that define different levels of pod security restrictions: Privileged (unrestricted), Baseline (minimally restrictive to prevent known privilege escalations), and Restricted (heavily restricted following security best practices).

Question 5

What is RBAC in Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a Kubernetes authorization mechanism that regulates access to resources based on user roles. It uses Role, ClusterRole, RoleBinding, and ClusterRoleBinding resources to define and assign permissions to users and service accounts.

Question 6

How do I secure etcd in Kubernetes?

Accepted Answer

Secure etcd by enabling encryption at rest for secrets, using TLS for client-server communication, restricting access to etcd endpoints via firewall rules, enabling authentication, and running regular backups. etcd stores all cluster data including secrets.

Question 7

What is a container escape attack?

Accepted Answer

A container escape attack occurs when a process breaks out of container isolation to access the host system or other containers. Common vectors include privileged containers, hostPath mounts, and kernel exploits. Mitigate with Pod Security Standards and seccomp profiles.

Question 8

What tools are used for Kubernetes security scanning?

Accepted Answer

Popular Kubernetes security tools include Trivy (vulnerability scanning), Falco (runtime security), kube-bench (CIS benchmarks), OPA Gatekeeper and Kyverno (policy enforcement), Kubescape (security posture), and Cosign (image signing).

4 docs tagged with "control-plane"

Compromised API Server

Provisioning Workload TLS Credentials with Pod Certificates

Securing the Kubernetes API Server

Unrestricted etcd Access