For AI agents: A markdown version of this page is available at https://docs.datadoghq.com/security/code_security/iac_security/iac_rules/kubernetes-authorization-mode-node-not-set.md. A documentation index is available at /llms.txt.

Authorization mode node not set

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Metadata

Id: kubernetes-authorization-mode-node-not-set

Platform: Kubernetes

Severity: Medium

Category: Insecure Configurations

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Description

When a container runs kube-apiserver, the --authorization-mode flag should include Node. This rule applies to both containers and initContainers and inspects the container command to verify the presence of --authorization-mode with the Node value. Omission of Node from --authorization-mode may disable node-level authorization and increase the API server’s security risk.

Compliant Code Examples

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: command-demo
  labels:
    purpose: demonstrate-command
spec:
  containers:
    - name: command-demo-container
      image: gcr.io/google_containers/kube-apiserver-amd64:v1.6.0
      command: ["kube-apiserver"]
      args: ["--authorization-mode=RBAC,Node"]
  restartPolicy: OnFailure

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: command-demo
  labels:
    purpose: demonstrate-command
spec:
  containers:
    - name: command-demo-container
      image: gcr.io/google_containers/kube-apiserver-amd64:v1.6.0
      command: ["kube-apiserver","--authorization-mode=RBAC,Node"]
      args: []
  restartPolicy: OnFailure

Non-Compliant Code Examples

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: command-demo
  labels:
    purpose: demonstrate-command
spec:
  containers:
    - name: command-demo-container
      image: gcr.io/google_containers/kube-apiserver-amd64:v1.6.0
      command: ["kube-apiserver"]
      args: ["--authorization-mode=AlwaysAllow"]
  restartPolicy: OnFailure

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: command-demo
  labels:
    purpose: demonstrate-command
spec:
  containers:
    - name: command-demo-container
      image: gcr.io/google_containers/kube-apiserver-amd64:v1.6.0
      command: ["kube-apiserver"]
      args: ["--authorization-mode=RBAC"]
  restartPolicy: OnFailure