| name | cis-k8s-v1111-5.2.10 |
| description | Minimize the admission of containers with capabilities assigned (Manual) |
| category | cis-k8s |
| version | 1.11.1 |
| author | cyberstrike-official |
| tags | ["cis","kubernetes","policies","pod-security","pod-security-standards","capabilities"] |
| cis_id | 5.2.10 |
| cis_benchmark | CIS Kubernetes Benchmark v1.11.1 |
| tech_stack | ["kubernetes"] |
| cwe_ids | [] |
| chains_with | [] |
| prerequisites | [] |
| severity_boost | {} |
5.2.10 Minimize the admission of containers with capabilities assigned (Manual)
Profile Applicability
Description
Do not generally permit containers with capabilities.
Rationale
Containers run with a default set of capabilities as assigned by the Container Runtime. Capabilities are parts of the rights generally granted on a Linux system to the root user.
In many cases applications running in containers do not require any capabilities to operate, so from the perspective of the principal of least privilege use of capabilities should be minimized.
Impact
Pods with containers require capabilities to operate will not be permitted.
Audit
List the policies in use for each namespace in the cluster, ensure that at least one policy requires that capabilities are dropped by all containers.
Remediation
Review the use of capabilities in applications running on your cluster. Where a namespace contains applications which do not require any Linux capabilities to operate consider adding a policy which forbids the admission of containers which do not drop all capabilities.
Default Value
By default, there are no restrictions on the creation of containers with additional capabilities.
References
- https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/security/pod-security-standards/
- https://www.nccgroup.trust/uk/our-research/abusing-privileged-and-unprivileged-linux-containers/
CIS Controls
| Controls Version | Control | IG 1 | IG 2 | IG 3 |
|---|
| v8 | 4.8 Uninstall or Disable Unnecessary Services on Enterprise Assets and Software | | X | X |
| v7 | 5.2 Maintain Secure Images | | X | X |
