| name | cis-gke-v180-3.1.2 |
| description | Ensure that the kubelet kubeconfig file ownership is set to root:root (Automated) |
| category | cis-gke |
| version | 1.8.0 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["cis","gke","kubernetes","gcp","worker-nodes","configuration-files","ownership","kubeconfig","kubelet"] |
| cis_id | 3.1.2 |
| cis_benchmark | CIS Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Benchmark v1.8.0 |
| tech_stack | ["kubernetes","gcp","gke"] |
| cwe_ids | [] |
| chains_with | [] |
| prerequisites | [] |
| severity_boost | {} |
3.1.2 Ensure that the kubelet kubeconfig file ownership is set to root:root (Automated)
Profile Applicability
Description
If kubelet is running, ensure that the file ownership of its kubeconfig file is set to root:root.
Rationale
The kubeconfig file for kubelet controls various parameters for the kubelet service in the worker node. You should set its file ownership to maintain the integrity of the file. The file should be owned by root:root.
Impact
Overly permissive file access increases the security risk to the platform.
Audit
Using Google Cloud Console
- Go to Kubernetes Engine by visiting https://console.cloud.google.com/kubernetes/list
- Click on the desired cluster to open the Details page, then click on the desired Node pool to open the Node pool Details page
- Note the name of the desired node
- Go to VM Instances by visiting https://console.cloud.google.com/compute/instances
- Find the desired node and click on 'SSH' to open an SSH connection to the node.
Using Command Line
Method 1
SSH to the worker nodes.
To check to see if the kubelet service is running:
sudo systemctl status kubelet
The output should return Active: active (running) since...
Run the following command on each node to find the appropriate kubeconfig file:
ps -ef | grep kubelet
The output of the above command should return something similar to --kubeconfig /var/lib/kubelet/kubeconfig which is the location of the kubeconfig file.
Run this command to obtain the kubeconfig file ownership:
stat -c %U:%G /var/lib/kubelet/kubeconfig
The output of the above command gives you the kubeconfig file's ownership. Verify that the ownership is set to root:root.
Method 2
Create and Run a Privileged Pod.
You will need to run a pod that is privileged enough to access the host's file system. This can be achieved by deploying a pod that uses the hostPath volume to mount the node's file system into the pod.