1.1.22 Ensure that the --kubelet-certificate-authority argument is set as appropriate

Information

Verify kubelet's certificate before establishing connection.

Rationale:

The connections from the apiserver to the kubelet are used for fetching logs for pods, attaching (through kubectl) to running pods, and using the kubelet's port-forwarding functionality. These connections terminate at the kubelet's HTTPS endpoint. By default, the apiserver does not verify the kubelet's serving certificate, which makes the connection subject to man-in-the-middle attacks, and unsafe to run over untrusted and/or public networks.

Solution

Follow the Kubernetes documentation and setup the TLS connection between the apiserver and kubelets. Then, edit the `/etc/kubernetes/apiserver` file on the master node and set the `KUBE_API_ARGS` parameter to `'--kubelet-certificate-authority='`: `KUBE_API_ARGS='--kubelet-certificate-authority='`

Based on your system, restart the `kube-apiserver` service. For example: `systemctl restart kube-apiserver.service`

Impact:

You require TLS to be configured on apiserver as well as kubelets.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/1738

Item Details

Category: IDENTIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION

References: 800-53|IA-5(2), CSCv6|3.4

Plugin: Unix

Control ID: ff04fb225e2e45f25e79d1f6e7344f9947901cf3cb8536dfb352cd999d38e482