Kubernetes Security Best Practices: Audit Logging, Feature Restriction, Credential Rotation, and Third-Party Integration Review

access to a subset of the keyspace is strongly recommended. {{< /caution >}} ### Enable audit logging The [audit logger](/docs/tasks/debug/debug-cluster/audit/) is a beta feature that records actions taken by the API for later analysis in the event of a compromise. It is recommended to enable audit logging and archive the audit file on a secure server. ### Restrict access to alpha or beta features Alpha and beta Kubernetes features are in active development and may have limitations or bugs that result in security vulnerabilities. Always assess the value an alpha or beta feature may provide against the possible risk to your security posture. When in doubt, disable features you do not use. ### Rotate infrastructure credentials frequently The shorter the lifetime of a secret or credential the harder it is for an attacker to make use of that credential. Set short lifetimes on certificates and automate their rotation. Use an authentication provider that can control how long issued tokens are available and use short lifetimes where possible. If you use service-account tokens in external integrations, plan to rotate those tokens frequently. For example, once the bootstrap phase is complete, a bootstrap token used for setting up nodes should be revoked or its authorization removed. ### Review third party integrations before enabling them Many third party integrations to Kubernetes may alter the security profile of your cluster. When enabling an integration, always review the permissions that an extension requests before granting it access. For example, many security integrations may request access to view all secrets on your cluster which is effectively making that component a cluster admin. When in doubt, restrict the integration to functioning in a single namespace if possible. Components that create pods may also be unexpectedly powerful if they can do so inside namespaces like the `kube-system` namespace, because those pods can gain access to service account secrets or run with elevated permissions if those service accounts are granted access to permissive

This section details Kubernetes security best practices including enabling audit logging, restricting access to alpha/beta features due to potential vulnerabilities, rotating infrastructure credentials to limit their exposure, and thoroughly reviewing third-party integrations before enabling them, focusing on the permissions they request and the namespaces they operate in.