Correct Answer:

See the Explanation below
Explanation:

Correct Answer:

See the Explanation below for complete solution
Explanation:
Below is the CKS exam style "do-this-exactly" runbook for Q3. It includes the minimal discovery commands (so you don't guess filenames), then the exact lines/blocks to set.
QUESTION 3 - ImagePolicyWebhook (Validating Admission) - Exam Steps
0) SSH + root
ssh cks000002
sudo -i
1) Identify the provided config files (no guessing)
ls -la /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
You are looking for files typically named like:
admission_configuration.yaml (AdmissionConfiguration)
imagepolicywebhook.yaml (ImagePolicyWebhookConfiguration) OR the ImagePolicyWebhook config embedded inside the AdmissionConfiguration kubeconfig (webhook kubeconfig) If unsure which is which, quick peek:
grep -R "ImagePolicyWebhook" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
grep -R "AdmissionConfiguration" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
grep -R "kubeconfig" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
PART A - Reconfigure API Server to enable required admission plugin(s)
2) Edit API server static pod manifest
vi /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml
2.1 Enable the admission plugin ImagePolicyWebhook
Find the line starting with:
- --enable-admission-plugins=
Ensure ImagePolicyWebhook is included in that comma list.
Example (your list may differ; just add ImagePolicyWebhook):
- --enable-admission-plugins=NodeRestriction,ImagePolicyWebhook
If the flag does not exist, add one line under command::
- --enable-admission-plugins=ImagePolicyWebhook
2.2 Point API server to the provided AdmissionConfiguration
In the same file, ensure this flag exists (use the file in /etc/kubernetes/bouncer that contains AdmissionConfiguration):
- --admission-control-config-file=/etc/kubernetes/bouncer/admission_configuration.yaml If your file is named differently, use the real filename you found in step 1, but keep the flag name exactly --admission-control-config-file.
Save/exit:
:wq
Static pod will restart automatically (kubelet watches the manifest).
Optional quick watch:
docker ps | grep kube-apiserver
# or:
crictl ps | grep kube-apiserver
PART B - Configure ImagePolicyWebhook to deny images on backend failure
3) Edit the ImagePolicyWebhook config
One of these is true on your cluster:
Option 1 (most common in these tasks): ImagePolicyWebhook config is a standalone file Edit the file in /etc/kubernetes/bouncer that contains kind: ImagePolicyWebhookConfiguration:
grep -R "kind: ImagePolicyWebhookConfiguration" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer vi /etc/kubernetes/bouncer/<THE_FILE_YOU_FOUND>.yaml Set (or ensure) exactly:
defaultAllow: false
Option 2: ImagePolicyWebhook config is embedded inside AdmissionConfiguration Edit the AdmissionConfiguration file:
vi /etc/kubernetes/bouncer/admission_configuration.yaml
Find the plugin section for ImagePolicyWebhook and ensure the config includes:
defaultAllow: false
✅ Save/exit:
:wq
PART C - Point backend configuration to https://smooth-yak.local/review
4) Edit the webhook kubeconfig to use the scanner endpoint
Find the kubeconfig file referenced by the ImagePolicyWebhook config.
Search for kubeConfigFile:
grep -R "kubeConfigFile" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
Open that kubeconfig path (example name below; yours may differ):
vi /etc/kubernetes/bouncer/kubeconfig
In kubeconfig, set the cluster server exactly:
clusters:
- cluster:
server: https://smooth-yak.local/review
✅ Save/exit:
:wq
PART D - Restart effect (make sure API server picks up config)
Because you already edited /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml, the API server restarted.
To be safe (and fast), force a restart by "touching" the manifest (no content change needed):
touch /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml
PART E - Test: apply vulnerable workload and confirm it is denied
5) Use admin kubeconfig (because old kubectl config may break)
export KUBECONFIG=/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf
kubectl get nodes
6) Deploy the test resource (should be DENIED)
kubectl apply -f /home/candidate/vulnerable.yaml
Expected: admission error/denied message.
If it already exists:
kubectl delete -f /home/candidate/vulnerable.yaml
kubectl apply -f /home/candidate/vulnerable.yaml
PART F - Verify the scanner was called (log check)
7) Check scanner access log
tail -n 50 /var/log/nginx/access_log
You should see requests hitting /review.
Quick "what to check if it doesn't deny"
Run these in order:
Confirm API server flags:
grep -n "enable-admission-plugins" /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml grep -n "admission-control-config-file" /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml Confirm deny-on-failure:
grep -R "defaultAllow" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
Must show:
defaultAllow: false
Confirm endpoint:
grep -R "server: https://smooth-yak.local/review" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer API server logs (docker runtime):
docker ps | grep kube-apiserver
docker logs $(docker ps -q --filter name=kube-apiserver) --tail 80
If you paste the output of:
ls -/etc/kubernetes/bouncer
grep -R "kind: AdmissionConfiguration" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer
grep -R "ImagePolicyWebhook" -n /etc/kubernetes/bouncer

Correct Answer:

See the Explanation below for complete solution
Explanation:
1) Connect to the correct host
ssh cks000037
sudo -i
2) Remove user developer from the docker group ONLY
2.1 Verify current groups (optional but fast)
id developer
2.2 Remove ONLY from docker group
gpasswd -d developer docker
2.3 Verify removal
id developer
✅ docker should not appear; other groups must remain.
3) Reconfigure Docker to secure the socket and disable TCP
Docker config file:
vi /etc/docker/daemon.json
3.1 Set socket group to root and disable TCP listeners
Ensure the file contains exactly these relevant settings (merge with existing JSON if present):
{
"group": "root",
"hosts": ["unix:///var/run/docker.sock"]
}
Important:
"group": "root" → docker.sock owned by group root
"hosts" includes ONLY the unix socket (no tcp://)
If the file already exists with other keys, add/adjust only these keys and keep valid JSON (commas!).
Save and exit:
:wq
4) Restart Docker daemon
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart docker
systemctl status docker --no-pager
5) Verify Docker socket ownership and permissions
ls -l /var/run/docker.sock
Expected:
srw-rw---- 1 root root ...
✅ Owner: root
✅ Group: root
6) Verify Docker is NOT listening on TCP
ss -lntp | grep docker
Expected:
No output (or nothing bound to TCP by dockerd)
Optional double-check:
ps aux | grep dockerd | grep -v grep
Ensure no -H tcp://... flags.
7) Ensure Kubernetes cluster is healthy
7.1 Check node and pods
export KUBECONFIG=/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods -A
All nodes should be Ready, core pods Running.

Correct Answer:

API server:
Ensure the --authorization-mode argument includes RBAC
Turn on Role Based Access Control.
Role Based Access Control (RBAC) allows fine-grained control over the operations that different entities can perform on different objects in the cluster. It is recommended to use the RBAC authorization mode.
Fix - Buildtime
Kubernetes
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
creationTimestamp: null
labels:
component: kube-apiserver
tier: control-plane
name: kube-apiserver
namespace: kube-system
spec:
containers:
- command:
+ - kube-apiserver
+ - --authorization-mode=RBAC,Node
image: gcr.io/google_containers/kube-apiserver-amd64:v1.6.0
livenessProbe:
failureThreshold: 8
httpGet:
host: 127.0.0.1
path: /healthz
port: 6443
scheme: HTTPS
initialDelaySeconds: 15
timeoutSeconds: 15
name: kube-apiserver-should-pass
resources:
requests:
cpu: 250m
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /etc/kubernetes/
name: k8s
readOnly: true
- mountPath: /etc/ssl/certs
name: certs
- mountPath: /etc/pki
name: pki
hostNetwork: true
volumes:
- hostPath:
path: /etc/kubernetes
name: k8s
- hostPath:
path: /etc/ssl/certs
name: certs
- hostPath:
path: /etc/pki
name: pki
Ensure the --authorization-mode argument includes Node
Remediation: Edit the API server pod specification file /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml on the master node and set the --authorization-mode parameter to a value that includes Node.
--authorization-mode=Node,RBAC
Audit:
/bin/ps -ef | grep kube-apiserver | grep -v grep
Expected result:
'Node,RBAC' has 'Node'
Ensure that the --profiling argument is set to false
Remediation: Edit the API server pod specification file /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml on the master node and set the below parameter.
--profiling=false
Audit:
/bin/ps -ef | grep kube-apiserver | grep -v grep
Expected result:
'false' is equal to 'false'
Fix all of the following violations that were found against the Kubelet:- Ensure the --anonymous-auth argument is set to false.
Remediation: If using a Kubelet config file, edit the file to set authentication: anonymous: enabled to false. If using executable arguments, edit the kubelet service file /etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service.d/10-kubeadm.conf on each worker node and set the below parameter in KUBELET_SYSTEM_PODS_ARGS variable.
--anonymous-auth=false
Based on your system, restart the kubelet service. For example:
systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart kubelet.service
Audit:
/bin/ps -fC kubelet
Audit Config:
/bin/cat /var/lib/kubelet/config.yaml
Expected result:
'false' is equal to 'false'
2) Ensure that the --authorization-mode argument is set to Webhook.
Audit
docker inspect kubelet | jq -e '.[0].Args[] | match("--authorization-mode=Webhook").string' Returned Value: --authorization-mode=Webhook Fix all of the following violations that were found against the ETCD:- a. Ensure that the --auto-tls argument is not set to true Do not use self-signed certificates for TLS. etcd is a highly-available key value store used by Kubernetes deployments for persistent storage of all of its REST API objects. These objects are sensitive in nature and should not be available to unauthenticated clients. You should enable the client authentication via valid certificates to secure the access to the etcd service.
Fix - Buildtime
Kubernetes
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
annotations:
scheduler.alpha.kubernetes.io/critical-pod: ""
creationTimestamp: null
labels:
component: etcd
tier: control-plane
name: etcd
namespace: kube-system
spec:
containers:
- command:
+ - etcd
+ - --auto-tls=true
image: k8s.gcr.io/etcd-amd64:3.2.18
imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
livenessProbe:
exec:
command:
- /bin/sh
- -ec
- ETCDCTL_API=3 etcdctl --endpoints=https://[192.168.22.9]:2379 --cacert=/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/ca.crt
--cert=/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/healthcheck-client.crt --key=/etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd/healthcheck-client.key get foo failureThreshold: 8 initialDelaySeconds: 15 timeoutSeconds: 15 name: etcd-should-fail resources: {} volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/lib/etcd
name: etcd-data
- mountPath: /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd
name: etcd-certs
hostNetwork: true
priorityClassName: system-cluster-critical
volumes:
- hostPath:
path: /var/lib/etcd
type: DirectoryOrCreate
name: etcd-data
- hostPath:
path: /etc/kubernetes/pki/etcd
type: DirectoryOrCreate
name: etcd-certs
status: {}

Correct Answer:

See the Explanation belowExplanation:
apiVersion: policy/v1beta1
kind: PodSecurityPolicy
metadata:
name: restricted
annotations:
seccomp.security.alpha.kubernetes.io/allowedProfileNames: 'docker/default,runtime/default' apparmor.security.beta.kubernetes.io/allowedProfileNames: 'runtime/default' seccomp.security.alpha.kubernetes.io/defaultProfileName: 'runtime/default' apparmor.security.beta.kubernetes.io/defaultProfileName: 'runtime/default' spec:
privileged: false
# Required to prevent escalations to root.
allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
# This is redundant with non-root + disallow privilege escalation,
# but we can provide it for defense in depth.
requiredDropCapabilities:
- ALL
# Allow core volume types.
volumes:
- 'configMap'
- 'emptyDir'
- 'projected'
- 'secret'
- 'downwardAPI'
# Assume that persistentVolumes set up by the cluster admin are safe to use.
- 'persistentVolumeClaim'
hostNetwork: false
hostIPC: false
hostPID: false
runAsUser:
# Require the container to run without root privileges.
rule: 'MustRunAsNonRoot'
seLinux:
# This policy assumes the nodes are using AppArmor rather than SELinux.
rule: 'RunAsAny'
supplementalGroups:
rule: 'MustRunAs'
ranges:
# Forbid adding the root group.
- min: 1
max: 65535
fsGroup:
rule: 'MustRunAs'
ranges:
# Forbid adding the root group.
- min: 1
max: 65535
readOnlyRootFilesystem: false