US (470) 948-0356 India +91 70321 51545

Tetra Connects

Cybersecurity

Kubernetes security

A Kubernetes cluster is an API with a very large set of powerful verbs. Most compromises come from permissions, exposed components and over-trusted workloads rather than the kernel.

Speak with a security expert Plan an assessment

The problem this service solves

Default clusters trust everything. Pods can talk to any other pod, the service account token is mounted by default, and a single cluster-admin binding given to a pipeline for convenience gives full control. A compromised workload, a vulnerable web application or a leaked token can lead to the whole cluster, and from there to the underlying cloud account.

We review how the cluster is built, who can do what, and what a compromised pod could reach.

What is in scope

  • API server and control plane

    Authentication, authorization mode, public exposure, audit logging and managed-service settings.

  • RBAC

    Cluster-admin bindings, wildcard roles, service account permissions, escalation paths such as pod creation and secrets access.

  • Workload hardening

    Pod Security Standards, privileged containers, host namespaces, capabilities, read-only filesystems and resource limits.

  • Network policy

    Namespace isolation, egress control and service mesh policies.

  • Secrets and identity

    Secret storage, external secrets, workload identity to cloud providers and token handling.

  • Supply chain

    Image sources, scanning, signing, admission policy and registry access.

  • Runtime and detection

    Audit logs, runtime sensors, anomaly detection and incident readiness.

How the work runs

Collect

Read-only cluster view.

  1. 1

    Configuration export

    Capture cluster, RBAC, policy and workload manifests.

  2. 2

    Benchmark run

    Check against CIS Kubernetes Benchmark and validate manually.

Analyze

Think like a compromised pod.

  1. 3

    RBAC graph

    Map who can escalate privileges or read secrets.

  2. 4

    Pod-to-cluster scenarios

    From a defined foothold, test what the pod can reach (optional, within scope).

Improve

Fix systematically.

  1. 5

    Policy as code

    Recommend admission policies (Kyverno, OPA Gatekeeper or Pod Security Admission) to prevent regression.

What you receive

  • Executive summary
  • Findings by cluster and namespace
  • RBAC and escalation path analysis
  • Admission policy set
  • Network policy recommendations
  • Runtime detection guidance
  • Retest

Tooling and technique

Assessment

  • kube-bench
  • kubescape
  • Trivy
  • kubectl

RBAC

  • rbac-tool
  • KubiScan

Policy

  • Kyverno
  • OPA Gatekeeper
  • Pod Security Admission

Runtime

  • Falco
  • Tetragon

Tool categories describe how we work. They are not a claim of vendor partnership or certification.

Standards we map to

Frameworks and references

  • CIS Kubernetes Benchmark
  • NSA/CISA Kubernetes Hardening Guidance
  • MITRE ATT&CK for Containers
  • OWASP Kubernetes Top 10

Mapping findings to a framework is not the same as certification against it.

Before we start

What we need from you

  • Read-only kubeconfig or exported manifests
  • Cluster architecture and ownership by namespace
  • CI/CD pipeline description

What this service is not

  • Cluster operations or upgrade work
  • Application code review

What changes afterwards

  • Workloads run with least privilege
  • A compromised pod has limited reach
  • Policy enforces the baseline on every deployment

Questions people ask

Do you test managed Kubernetes differently?

The control plane is the provider’s responsibility, so we focus on your configuration: RBAC, node pools, networking, workload identity and add-ons.

Is service mesh required for security?

No. A mesh can add mutual TLS and policy, but it adds complexity. Basic network policies and good RBAC provide a lot of value first.

Related

  • DevSecOps

    Add security checks to the delivery pipeline: source, dependencies, secrets, infrastructure as code, containers and deployment permissions.

  • AWS security

    Review of IAM, organizations, networking, storage, logging and workloads in AWS, with a fix plan ordered by what attackers use first.

  • Azure security

    Assessment of Azure subscriptions, Entra ID integration, RBAC, networking, Defender for Cloud, Key Vault and logging.

Need to understand your security exposure?

Speak with a security expert

Talk through your environment and goals. We reply to scope the work before anything is tested.

Speak with a security expert

Plan an assessment

Answer a few questions and get a structured preliminary scope you can send us.

Use the planner

Under attack right now?

Call the US office and tell us what you are seeing. Do not wait for a form reply.

Incident response

Phone, United States (470) 948-0356 Phone, India +91 70321 51545 Email info@tetraconnects.com