| name | cis-ocp-v170-1.2.16 |
| description | Ensure that the --insecure-bind-address argument is not set (Manual) |
| category | cis-openshift |
| version | 1.7.0 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["cis","openshift","kubernetes","redhat","control-plane","api-server"] |
| cis_id | 1.2.16 |
| cis_benchmark | CIS Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Benchmark v1.7.0 |
| tech_stack | ["kubernetes","openshift","redhat"] |
| cwe_ids | [] |
| chains_with | [] |
| prerequisites | [] |
| severity_boost | {} |
CIS Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Benchmark v1.7.0 - Control 1.2.16
Profile Applicability
Description
Do not bind the insecure API service.
Rationale
If you bind the apiserver to an insecure address, basically anyone who could connect to it over the insecure port, would have unauthenticated and unencrypted access to your master node. The apiserver doesn't do any authentication checking for insecure binds and traffic to the Insecure API port is not encrypted, allowing attackers to potentially read sensitive data in transit.
Impact
Connections to the API server will require valid authentication credentials.
Audit Procedure
The openshift-kube-apiserver is served over HTTPS with authentication and authorization; the secure API endpoint for the openshift-kube-apiserver is bound to 0.0.0.0:6443 by default. Note that the openshift-apiserver is not running in the host network namespace. The port is not exposed on the node, but only through the pod network.
Use the following command to obtain a list of configured feature gates on the API server:
oc get kubeapiservers.operator.openshift.io cluster -ojson | jq '.spec.observedConfig.apiServerArguments."feature-gates"'
Verify that InsecureBindAddress=true is not in the returned list.
Next, query Kubernetes API server endpoints:
oc -n openshift-kube-apiserver get endpoints -o jsonpath='{.items[*].subsets[*].ports[*].port}'
Verify the API server port for the Kubernetes API server is using 6443.
Next, query the OpenShift API server endpoints:
oc -n openshift-apiserver get endpoints -o jsonpath='{.items[*].subsets[*].ports[*].port}'
Verify the API server port for the OpenShift API server is using 8443.
Note that the openshift-apiserver is not running in the host network namespace. The port is not exposed on the node, but only through the pod network.
Remediation
None.
Default Value
By default, the openshift-kube-apiserver is served over HTTPS with authentication and authorization; the secure API endpoint is bound to . Note that the is not running in the host network namespace. The port is not exposed on the node, but only through the pod network.
