Introduction
We know that Kubernetes has become one of the most significant container orchestration platforms.
Aside from the ease of use, one of the most crucial components of any containerized software is security.
You must understand how to protect the Kubernetes cluster’s apps comprehensively. Because security concerns have grown significantly in recent years, this domain emphasizes every organization.
If you understand the fundamentals of Kubernetes, you’ll realize that by default, Kubernetes allocates an IP address to each port in the clusters and provides IP-based security.
But Kubernetes just offers the bare minimum in terms of security features. Kubernetes regrettably lacks functionality for sophisticated security monitoring and admin compliance enforcement.
Fortunately, several open-source Kubernetes scanners from third parties can help you protect your Kubernetes clusters.
Table of Contents
Here are some advantages of using Kubernetes Scanners:
- Identifies cluster, container, and pod misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.
- Solutions are provided to rectify misconfigurations and eliminate vulnerabilities.
- It provides a real-time picture of the cluster’s health.
- Increases the DevOps team’s confidence in developing and deploying applications on a Kubernetes cluster.
- It aids in avoiding cluster failure by detecting problems early on.
Tools below to assist you in uncovering security vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
Kube Hunter
Aqua Security’s Kube Hunter is a vulnerability scanning tool for your Kubernetes cluster. This tool is beneficial for raising security awareness in Kubernetes collections.
To find vulnerabilities, this application provides a variety of conventional scanning modes such as remote, interlace, and network scanning.
It includes a set of active and passive tests that can detect most vulnerabilities in a Kubernetes cluster.
This tool can be used in several different ways:
- You can begin checking your bunch for vulnerabilities after installation.
- Kube Hunter can also be used as a docker container, which is the second way. On a machine in the cluster, you may immediately install Kube Hunter, which you can then use to search the collections by probing their local networks.
- The third option is running Kube Hunter as a pod inside your Kubernetes cluster. This aids in identifying security holes in any application pods.
Kube Bench
Kube Bench is an open-source quality security tool that determines whether your deployments fulfill the CIS security benchmark.
It offers benchmark testing for various Kubernetes versions. Kube Bench also highlights errors and assists in their rectification. It provides a fix for mistakes.
This program also verifies that user authorization and authentication are correct and that the data is adequately encrypted. It ensures that the deployment allows the CIS principal.
Kube Bench characteristics include:
- Test for Kubernetes masters and nodes written in Go
- It is available as a container.
- Tests are written in YAML, making them easier to extend and update.
- JSON output is supported.
Checkov
Checkov is a cloud misconfiguration prevention tool for Kubernetes, Terraform, Cloudformation, the Serverless framework, and other infrastructure-as-code languages. It is built in Python and attempts to enhance security adoption and compliance with best practices. It can be used to execute scans and examine the infrastructure as code.
Checkov’s characteristics include the following:
- It is open-source and straightforward to use.
- More than 500 security policies are pre-installed.
- Best practices for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud compliance
- CLI, JUnit XML, and JSON are all supported output formats.
- Add scans to your ci/cd workflows.
- Scan for the input folder containing your Terraform and Cloud-formation files.
MKIT
MKIT is an abbreviation for Managed Kubernetes Inspection Tool. This tool assists you in identifying critical security concerns for Kubernetes clusters and associated resources. It includes quick and simple methods for assessing cluster and workload misconfigurations.
The program includes an interface that defaults to http://localhost:8000. It displays a list of failed and passed checks. The affected resources section contains information on both simulated and non-affected resources.
MKIT’s features include:
- All open-source libraries and tools were used in the development.
- Simple to set up and utilize
- Multiple Kubernetes providers are supported, including AKS, EKS, and GKE.
- Inside the container, critical data is stored.
- It has a web interface.
Kubei
Kubei is a tool for evaluating the immediate risks in a Kubernetes cluster. The Go programming language is used to write the majority of Kubei. It includes all CIS Docker benchmarks.
It analyzes all images the Kubernetes cluster utilizes, including application pods, system pods, etc. You have several options for customizing the scan regarding vulnerability degree of interest, scan speed, scan scope, etc. You may inspect all the vulnerabilities it discovers in the cluster and how to mitigate them using the GUI it provides.
Kubei’s characteristics include the following:
- Scanner for open-source Kubernetes runtime vulnerabilities.
- Scans public photos from your registry.
- Real-time status of the cluster’s health.
- Scan visualization using a web interface.
- Provides a variety of configurable scanning possibilities.
Kube Scan
Kube Scan is a container scanner that comes as a container. After installing it in a new cluster, it scans the workloads already operating in your group and displays the risk score and details in the user-friendly web interface.
The risk score ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 indicating no risk and 10 indicating significant risk.
Kube scan formula and scoring guidelines are based on KCCSS, the Kubernetes Common Configuration Scoring System, an open-source framework. It is comparable to CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System).
It provides a risk score by utilizing over 30 security variables, such as Kubernetes policies, capabilities, and privilege levels, and creating a risk baseline. The risk score is also influenced by the ease of exploitation and the magnitude and scope of exploitation.
Kube Scan Features:
- A risk assessment score tool that is open source.
- Web interface with risk assessment and risk score information.
- It runs in the cluster as a container.
- Every 24 hours, the cluster is rescanned.
Kubeaudit
Kubeaudit is an open-source Kubernetes cluster auditing tool, as the name implies. It detects security flaws in Kubernetes resources and advises you on how to fix them. It is written in Go to be used as a Go package or command-line utility.
With a single command, you may install it on your PC using brew. To avoid common security concerns, it recommends running programs as a non-root user, granting read-only access to the root filesystem, and avoiding assigning additional privileges to applications in the cluster.
It features a long list of auditors used to test the security concerns of the Kubernetes cluster, such as the SecurityContext of pods.
Kubeaudit Features:
- Kubernetes auditing tool that is open source.
- Offers three alternative ways to audit the cluster: manifest, local, and group.
- Provides the audit result in three severity levels: error, warning, and information.
- Uses several built-in auditors to audit namespaces, pods, and containers.
Kubesec
Kubesec is a free and open-source tool for analyzing security risks in Kubernetes resources. It validates the configuration and manifest files used in the deployment and operation of Kubernetes clusters.
It can be installed on your system via a container image, a binary package, a Kubernetes admission controller, or a kubectl plugin.
Kubesec Features:
- An open-source risk assessment tool
- It includes a packaged HTTP server that defaults to running in the background at port 8080.
- Kubesec capable of scanning several YAML documents in a single input file.
Conclusion
These technologies keep the Kubernetes cluster and its resources safe, making it difficult for hackers to break into the cluster’s applications. The scanners will assist you in more confidently deploying applications to the group. So, go ahead and check these tools out and uncover their flaws before a hacker does.