Cis Oke V180 3.1.4

---
name: cis-oke-v180-3.1.4
description: "Ensure that the kubelet configuration file ownership is set to root:root (Automated)"
category: cis-oke
version: "1.8.0"
author: cyberstrike-official
tags: [cis, oke, kubernetes, oci, worker-node, config-files]
cis_id: "3.1.4"
cis_benchmark: "CIS Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) Benchmark v1.8.0"
tech_stack: [kubernetes, oci, oke]
cwe_ids: []
chains_with: []
prerequisites: []
severity_boost: {}
---

# CIS OKE Benchmark v1.8.0 - Control 3.1.4

## Profile Applicability

- **Level:** 1

## Description

Ensure that if the kubelet refers to a configuration file with the `--config` argument, that file is owned by root:root.

## Rationale

The kubelet reads various parameters, including security settings, from a config file specified by the `--config` argument. If this file is specified you should restrict its file permissions to maintain the integrity of the file. The file should be writable by only the administrators on the system.

## Impact

None.

## Audit Procedure

### Method 1

First, SSH to the relevant worker node.

To check to see if the Kubelet Service is running:

```bash
sudo systemctl status kubelet
```

The output should return `Active: active (running) since..`

Run the following command on each node to find the appropriate Kubelet config file:

```bash
ps -ef | grep kubelet
```

The output of the above command should return something similar to `--config /etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf` which is the location of the Kubelet config file.

Run the following command:

```bash
stat -c %U:%G /etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf
```

The output of the above command is the Kubelet config file's ownership. Verify that the ownership is set to `root:root`.

### Method 2

Create and Run a Privileged Pod.

You will need to run a pod that is privileged enough to access the host's file system. This can be achieved by deploying a pod that uses the hostPath volume to mount the node's file system into the pod.

Here's an example of a simple pod definition that mounts the root of the host to /host within the pod:

```yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: file-check
spec:
  volumes:
    - name: host-root
      hostPath:
        path: /
        type: Directory
  containers:
    - name: nsenter
      image: busybox
      command: ["sleep", "3600"]
      volumeMounts:
        - name: host-root
          mountPath: /host
      securityContext:
        privileged: true
```

Save this to a file (e.g., file-check-pod.yaml) and create the pod:

```bash
kubectl apply -f file-check-pod.yaml
```

Once the pod is running, you can exec into it to check file ownership on the node:

```bash
kubectl exec -it file-check -- sh
```

Now you are in a shell inside the pod, but you can access the node's file system through the /host directory and check the ownership of the file:

```bash
ls -l /host/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf
```

Verify that the ownership is set to `root:root`.

## Remediation

Run the following command (using the config file location identified in the Audit step):

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

## Default Value

See the OKE documentation for the default value.

## References

1. https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/kubelet-config-file/
2. https://docs.cloud.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/ContEng/Concepts/contengoverview.htm

## CIS Controls

| Controls Version | Control                                                                   | IG 1 | IG 2 | IG 3 |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| v8               | 5.4 Restrict Administrator Privileges to Dedicated Administrator Accounts | \*   | \*   | \*   |

## MITRE ATT&CK Mappings

| Techniques / Sub-techniques | Tactics        | Mitigations |
| --------------------------- | -------------- | ----------- |
| T1083, T1222                | TA0005, TA0007 | M1026       |

## Profile

**Level 1** (Automated)