---
title: Running Kubernetes Node Components as a Non-root User
content_type: task
min-kubernetes-server-version: 1.22
weight: 300
---

<!-- overview -->

{{< feature-state for_k8s_version="v1.22" state="alpha" >}}

This document describes how to run Kubernetes Node components such as kubelet, CRI, OCI, and CNI
without root privileges, by using a {{< glossary_tooltip text="user namespace" term_id="userns" >}}.

This technique is also known as _rootless mode_.

{{< note >}}
This document describes how to run Kubernetes Node components (and hence pods) as a non-root user.

If you are just looking for how to run a pod as a non-root user, see [SecurityContext](/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/security-context/).
{{< /note >}}

## {{% heading "prerequisites" %}}

{{% version-check %}}

* [Enable Cgroup v2](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/getting-started/common/cgroup2/)
* [Enable systemd with user session](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/getting-started/common/login/)
* [Configure several sysctl values, depending on host Linux distribution](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/getting-started/common/sysctl/)
* [Ensure that your unprivileged user is listed in `/etc/subuid` and `/etc/subgid`](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/getting-started/common/subuid/)
* Enable the `KubeletInUserNamespace` [feature gate](/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/feature-gates/)

<!-- steps -->

## Running Kubernetes inside Rootless Docker/Podman

### kind

[kind](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/) supports running Kubernetes inside Rootless Docker or Rootless Podman.

See [Running kind with Rootless Docker](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/rootless/).

### minikube

[minikube](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/) also supports running Kubernetes inside Rootless Docker or Rootless Podman.

See the Minikube documentation:

* [Rootless Docker](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/docker/)
* [Rootless Podman](https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/drivers/podman/)

## Running Kubernetes inside Unprivileged Containers

{{% thirdparty-content %}}

### sysbox

[Sysbox](https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox) is an open-source container runtime
(similar to "runc") that supports running system-level workloads such as Docker
and Kubernetes inside unprivileged containers isolated with the Linux user
namespace.

See [Sysbox Quick Start Guide: Kubernetes-in-Docker](https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox/blob/master/docs/quickstart/kind.md) for more info.

Sysbox supports running Kubernetes inside unprivileged containers without
requiring Cgroup v2 and without the `KubeletInUserNamespace` feature gate. It
does this by exposing specially crafted `/proc` and `/sys` filesystems inside
the container plus several other advanced OS virtualization techniques.

## Running Rootless Kubernetes directly on a host

{{% thirdparty-content %}}

### K3s

[K3s](https://k3s.io/) experimentally supports rootless mode.

See [Running K3s with Rootless mode](https://rancher.com/docs/k3s/latest/en/advanced/#running-k3s-with-rootless-mode-experimental) for the usage.

### Usernetes
[Usernetes](https://github.com/rootless-containers/usernetes) is a reference distribution of Kubernetes that can be installed under `$HOME` directory without the root privilege.

Usernetes supports both containerd and CRI-O as CRI runtimes.
Usernetes supports multi-node clusters using Flannel (VXLAN).

See [the Usernetes repo](https://github.com/rootless-containers/usernetes) for the usage.

## Manually deploy a node that runs the kubelet in a user namespace {#userns-the-hard-way}

This section provides hints for running Kubernetes in a user namespace manually.

{{< note >}}
This section is intended to be read by developers of Kubernetes distributions, not by end users.
{{< /note >}}

### Creating a user namespace

The first step is to create a {{< glossary_tooltip text="user namespace" term_id="userns" >}}.

If you are trying to run Kubernetes in a user-namespaced container such as
Rootless Docker/Podman or LXC/LXD, you are all set, and you can go to the next subsection.

Otherwise you have to create a user namespace by yourself, by calling `unshare(2)` with `CLONE_NEWUSER`.

A user namespace can be also unshared by using command line tools such as:

- [`unshare(1)`](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/unshare.1.html)
- [RootlessKit](https://github.com/rootless-containers/rootlesskit)
- [become-root](https://github.com/giuseppe/become-root)

After unsharing the user namespace, you will also have to unshare other namespaces such as mount namespace.

You do *not* need to call `chroot()` nor `pivot_root()` after unsharing the mount namespace,
however, you have to mount writable filesystems on several directories *in* the namespace.

At least, the following directories need to be writable *in* the namespace (not *outside* the namespace):

- `/etc`
- `/run`
- `/var/logs`
- `/var/lib/kubelet`
- `/var/lib/cni`
- `/var/lib/containerd` (for containerd)
- `/var/lib/containers` (for CRI-O)

### Creating a delegated cgroup tree

In addition to the user namespace, you also need to have a writable cgroup tree with cgroup v2.

{{< note >}}
Kubernetes support for running Node components in user namespaces requires cgroup v2.
Cgroup v1 is not supported.
{{< /note >}}

If you are trying to run Kubernetes in Rootless Docker/Podman or LXC/LXD on a systemd-based host, you are all set.

Otherwise you have to create a systemd unit with `Delegate=yes` property to delegate a cgroup tree with writable permission.

On your node, systemd must already be configured to allow delegation; for more details, see
[cgroup v2](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/getting-started/common/cgroup2/) in the Rootless
Containers documentation.

### Configuring network

{{% thirdparty-content %}}

The network namespace of the Node components has to have a non-loopback interface, which can be for example configured with
[slirp4netns](https://github.com/rootless-containers/slirp4netns),
[VPNKit](https://github.com/moby/vpnkit), or
[lxc-user-nic(1)](https://www.man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/lxc-user-nic.1.html).

The network namespaces of the Pods can be configured with regular CNI plugins.
For multi-node networking, Flannel (VXLAN, 8472/UDP) is known to work.

Ports such as the kubelet port (10250/TCP) and `NodePort` service ports have to be exposed from the Node network namespace to
the host with an external port forwarder, such as RootlessKit, slirp4netns, or
[socat(1)](https://linux.die.net/man/1/socat).

You can use the port forwarder from K3s.
See [Running K3s in Rootless Mode](https://rancher.com/docs/k3s/latest/en/advanced/#known-issues-with-rootless-mode)
for more details.
The implementation can be found in [the `pkg/rootlessports` package](https://github.com/k3s-io/k3s/blob/v1.22.3+k3s1/pkg/rootlessports/controller.go) of k3s.

### Configuring CRI

The kubelet relies on a container runtime. You should deploy a container runtime such as
containerd or CRI-O and ensure that it is running within the user namespace before the kubelet starts.

{{< tabs name="cri" >}}
{{% tab name="containerd" %}}

Running CRI plugin of containerd in a user namespace is supported since containerd 1.4.

Running containerd within a user namespace requires the following configurations.

```toml
version = 2

[plugins."io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri"]
# Disable AppArmor
  disable_apparmor = true
# Ignore an error during setting oom_score_adj
  restrict_oom_score_adj = true
# Disable hugetlb cgroup v2 controller (because systemd does not support delegating hugetlb controller)
  disable_hugetlb_controller = true

[plugins."io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri".containerd]
# Using non-fuse overlayfs is also possible for kernel >= 5.11, but requires SELinux to be disabled
  snapshotter = "fuse-overlayfs"

[plugins."io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri".containerd.runtimes.runc.options]
# We use cgroupfs that is delegated by systemd, so we do not use SystemdCgroup driver
# (unless you run another systemd in the namespace)
  SystemdCgroup = false
```

The default path of the configuration file is `/etc/containerd/config.toml`.
The path can be specified with `containerd -c /path/to/containerd/config.toml`.

{{% /tab %}}
{{% tab name="CRI-O" %}}

Running CRI-O in a user namespace is supported since CRI-O 1.22.

CRI-O requires an environment variable `_CRIO_ROOTLESS=1` to be set.

The following configurations are also recommended:

```toml
[crio]
  storage_driver = "overlay"
# Using non-fuse overlayfs is also possible for kernel >= 5.11, but requires SELinux to be disabled
  storage_option = ["overlay.mount_program=/usr/local/bin/fuse-overlayfs"]

[crio.runtime]
# We use cgroupfs that is delegated by systemd, so we do not use "systemd" driver
# (unless you run another systemd in the namespace)
  cgroup_manager = "cgroupfs"
```

The default path of the configuration file is `/etc/crio/crio.conf`.
The path can be specified with `crio --config /path/to/crio/crio.conf`.
{{% /tab %}}
{{< /tabs >}}

### Configuring kubelet

Running kubelet in a user namespace requires the following configuration:

```yaml
apiVersion: kubelet.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: KubeletConfiguration
featureGates:
  KubeletInUserNamespace: true
# We use cgroupfs that is delegated by systemd, so we do not use "systemd" driver
# (unless you run another systemd in the namespace)
cgroupDriver: "cgroupfs"
```

When the `KubeletInUserNamespace` feature gate is enabled, the kubelet ignores errors
that may happen during setting the following sysctl values on the node.

- `vm.overcommit_memory`
- `vm.panic_on_oom`
- `kernel.panic`
- `kernel.panic_on_oops`
- `kernel.keys.root_maxkeys`
- `kernel.keys.root_maxbytes`.

Within a user namespace, the kubelet also ignores any error raised from trying to open `/dev/kmsg`.
This feature gate also allows kube-proxy to ignore an error during setting `RLIMIT_NOFILE`.

The `KubeletInUserNamespace` feature gate was introduced in Kubernetes v1.22 with "alpha" status.

Running kubelet in a user namespace without using this feature gate is also possible
by mounting a specially crafted proc filesystem (as done by [Sysbox](https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox)), but not officially supported.

### Configuring kube-proxy

Running kube-proxy in a user namespace requires the following configuration:

```yaml
apiVersion: kubeproxy.config.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: KubeProxyConfiguration
mode: "iptables" # or "userspace"
conntrack:
# Skip setting sysctl value "net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_max"
  maxPerCore: 0
# Skip setting "net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_tcp_timeout_established"
  tcpEstablishedTimeout: 0s
# Skip setting "net.netfilter.nf_conntrack_tcp_timeout_close"
  tcpCloseWaitTimeout: 0s
```

## Caveats

- Most of "non-local" volume drivers such as `nfs` and `iscsi` do not work.
  Local volumes like `local`, `hostPath`, `emptyDir`, `configMap`, `secret`, and `downwardAPI` are known to work.

- Some CNI plugins may not work. Flannel (VXLAN) is known to work.

For more on this, see the [Caveats and Future work](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/caveats/) page
on the rootlesscontaine.rs website.

## {{% heading "seealso" %}}

- [rootlesscontaine.rs](https://rootlesscontaine.rs/)
- [Rootless Containers 2020 (KubeCon NA 2020)](https://www.slideshare.net/AkihiroSuda/kubecon-na-2020-containerd-rootless-containers-2020)
- [Running kind with Rootless Docker](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/rootless/)
- [Usernetes](https://github.com/rootless-containers/usernetes)
- [Running K3s with rootless mode](https://rancher.com/docs/k3s/latest/en/advanced/#running-k3s-with-rootless-mode-experimental)
- [KEP-2033: Kubelet-in-UserNS (aka Rootless mode)](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/tree/master/keps/sig-node/2033-kubelet-in-userns-aka-rootless)