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 config must have file permissions set to 644 or more restrictive.

Kubernetes Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

The Kubernetes kubelet config must have file permissions set to 644 or more restrictive.

Description

Discussion Text

The Kubernetes kubelet agent registers nodes with the API server and performs health checks to containers within pods. If this file can be modified, the information system would be unaware of pod or container degradation.

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

Objective

V-242456

Rule

SV-242456r961863_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

CNTR-K8-003230

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Review the permissions of the Kubernetes config.yaml by using the command:

stat -c %a /var/lib/kubelet/config.yaml

If any of the files are have permissions more permissive than "644", this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Change the permissions of the config.yaml to "644" by executing the command:

chmod 644 /var/lib/kubelet/config.yaml

STIG check 73 of 92 in the Kubernetes STIG checklist

← Previous · V-242455The Kubernetes kubeadm.conf must have file permissions set to 644 or more restrictive.Next · V-242457 →The Kubernetes kubelet config must be owned by root.