Building a Kubernetes Security Audit Tool with Go
Most Kubernetes clusters ship with insecure defaults that nobody touches until something goes wrong. A misconfigured Pod security context, a container running as root, missing resource limits — these are the first things an attacker looks for after gaining access. Writing a Go tool that connects directly to the Kubernetes API lets you catch these issues automatically, before your next audit or…
Many Kubernetes clusters operate with insecure default settings that go unnoticed until a breach occurs. Common security issues include Pods running containers as root, containers marked as privileged, missing resource limits, and certain network configurations. Writing a Go tool that directly interacts with the Kubernetes API enables proactive detection of these vulnerabilities prior to any audit or incident response.
The tool focuses on the security controls frequently compromised in practice, aligning with the CIS Kubernetes Benchmark. A full audit checklist, encompassing all CIS controls, is available for download at ayinedjimi-consultants.fr/checklists. To build the auditing tool, the official Kubernetes Go client, called client-go, is utilized.
Dependencies are installed using `go get k8s.io/client-go@latest k8s.io/api@latest k8s.io/apimachinery@latest`. The client authenticates either via in-cluster configuration when running inside a Pod or by falling back to a local kubeconfig file. The core logic iterates through all pods across namespaces, examining each container's security context.
Finding instances where containers are running as root, are privileged, lack resource limits, have hostNetwork or hostPID enabled, or have readOnlyRootFilesystem set without disabling privilege escalation are flagged as high-severity findings. The `Finding` struct stores details of each detected issue, including namespace, pod name, container (if applicable), and severity level.
This structured approach allows for comprehensive and automated security audits of Kubernetes clusters.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
