V-260905

Discussion

Dedicated namespaces act as security boundaries, limiting the blast radius in case of security incidents or misconfigurations. If an issue arises within a specific namespace, it is contained within that namespace and does not affect the resources in other namespaces. Kubernetes provides Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) mechanisms, and namespaces are a fundamental unit for access control. Using dedicated namespaces for user-managed resources provides a level of isolation. Each namespace acts as a separate environment, allowing users or teams to deploy their applications and services without interfering with the resources in other namespaces. This isolation helps prevent unintentional conflicts and ensures a more predictable deployment environment.

Check Content

This check only applies when using Kubernetes orchestration.

Log in to the MKE web UI and navigate to Kubernetes >> Namespaces. 

The default namespaces are: "default", "kube-public", and "kube-node-lease".

1. In the top right corner, if "Set context for all namespaces" is not enabled, this is a finding.

2. Navigate to Kubernetes >> Services. Confirm that no service except "kubernetes" has the "default" namespace listed. Confirm that only approved system services have the "kube-system" namespace listed.

If "default" has a service other than the "kubernetes" services, this is a finding.

If "kube-system" has a service that is not listed in the System Security Plan (SSP), this is a finding.