Kubernetes Security Technical Implementation Guide

The Kubernetes Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R6) has 92 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

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Severity

Version

V2 · R6

CurrentPublished Wed Apr 01 2026

The Kubernetes kubelet KubeConfig file must be owned by root.

Kubernetes Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Kubernetes kubelet KubeConfig file must be owned by root.

Description

Discussion Text

The Kubernetes kubelet agent registers nodes with the API server and performs health checks to containers within pods. If these files can be modified, the information system would be unaware of pod or container degradation. Many of the security settings within the document are implemented through this file.

New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist? and CKL vs CKLB.

Objective

V-242453

Rule

SV-242453r961863_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

CNTR-K8-003200

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Review the Kubernetes Kubelet conf files by using the command:

stat -c %U:%G /etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf| grep -v root:root

If the command returns any non root:root file permissions, this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Change the ownership of the kubelet.conf to root: root by executing the command:

chown root:root /etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf

STIG check 70 of 92 in the Kubernetes STIG checklist

← Previous · V-242452The Kubernetes kubelet KubeConfig must have file permissions set to 644 or more restrictive.Next · V-242454 →The Kubernetes kubeadm.conf must be owned by root.