rbac-patterns-and-best-practices

name	RBAC Patterns and Best Practices
description	Reference for Kubernetes RBAC roles, service accounts, permissions, and access checks.

RBAC Patterns and Best Practices

Common RBAC Patterns

Pattern 1: Read-Only Access

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: read-only
rules:
  - apiGroups: ["", "apps", "batch"]
    resources: ["*"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]

Pattern 2: Namespace Admin

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: namespace-admin
  namespace: production
rules:
  - apiGroups: ["", "apps", "batch", "extensions"]
    resources: ["*"]
    verbs: ["*"]

Pattern 3: Deployment Manager

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: deployment-manager
  namespace: production
rules:
  - apiGroups: ["apps"]
    resources: ["deployments"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "create", "update", "patch", "delete"]
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["pods"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]

Pattern 4: Secret Reader (ServiceAccount)

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: secret-reader
  namespace: production
rules:
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["secrets"]
    verbs: ["get"]
    resourceNames: ["app-secrets"] # Specific secret only
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: app-secret-reader
  namespace: production
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: my-app
    namespace: production
roleRef:
  kind: Role
  name: secret-reader
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

Pattern 5: CI/CD Pipeline Access

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: cicd-deployer
rules:
  - apiGroups: ["apps"]
    resources: ["deployments", "replicasets"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "create", "update", "patch"]
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["services", "configmaps"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "create", "update", "patch"]
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["pods"]
    verbs: ["get", "list"]

ServiceAccount Best Practices

Create Dedicated ServiceAccounts

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: my-app
  namespace: production
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: my-app
      automountServiceAccountToken: false # Disable if not needed

Least-Privilege ServiceAccount

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: my-app-role
  namespace: production
rules:
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["configmaps"]
    verbs: ["get"]
    resourceNames: ["my-app-config"]

Security Best Practices

1. Use Roles over ClusterRoles when possible
2. Specify resourceNames for fine-grained access
3. Avoid wildcard permissions (*) in production
4. Create dedicated ServiceAccounts for each app
5. Disable token auto-mounting if not needed
6. Regular RBAC audits to remove unused permissions
7. Use groups for user management
8. Implement namespace isolation
9. Monitor RBAC usage with audit logs
10. Document role purposes in metadata

Troubleshooting RBAC

Check User Permissions

kubectl auth can-i list pods --as [e-mail]
kubectl auth can-i '*' '*' --as system:serviceaccount:default:my-app

View Effective Permissions

kubectl describe clusterrole cluster-admin
kubectl describe rolebinding -n production

Debug Access Issues

kubectl get rolebindings,clusterrolebindings --all-namespaces -o wide | grep my-user

Common RBAC Verbs

• get - Read a specific resource
• list - List all resources of a type
• watch - Watch for resource changes
• create - Create new resources
• update - Update existing resources
• patch - Partially update resources
• delete - Delete resources
• deletecollection - Delete multiple resources
• * - All verbs (avoid in production)

Resource Scope

Cluster-Scoped Resources

• Nodes
• PersistentVolumes
• ClusterRoles
• ClusterRoleBindings
• Namespaces

Namespace-Scoped Resources

• Pods
• Services
• Deployments
• ConfigMaps
• Secrets
• Roles
• RoleBindings