CIS Benchmarks

The CIS Kubernetes Benchmark provides security configuration guidelines for Kubernetes clusters. It’s a comprehensive set of best practices developed by security experts.

What is CIS Benchmark?

CIS (Center for Internet Security) Benchmark includes:

Configuration guidelines - Security settings
Best practices - Proven security measures
Scoring - Measure compliance level
Remediation - Steps to fix issues

Using kube-bench

kube-bench is a tool that checks Kubernetes clusters against CIS benchmarks:

Install

# Download binary
wget https://github.com/aquasecurity/kube-bench/releases/latest/download/kube-bench_linux_amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf kube-bench_linux_amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv kube-bench /usr/local/bin/

Run Scan

kube-bench run

Scan Specific Components

kube-bench run --targets master,node,etcd

Common Checks

Control Plane

API server security settings
Controller manager configuration
Scheduler security
etcd security

Worker Nodes

Kubelet configuration
Kube-proxy settings
Container runtime security

Remediation

kube-bench provides remediation steps:

kube-bench run --remediate

Warning: Review changes before applying.

Best Practices

Run regularly - Scan clusters periodically
Fix high-priority issues - Address critical findings first
Document exceptions - Explain why certain checks are skipped
Automate scanning - Integrate into CI/CD
Track progress - Monitor compliance over time