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Restrict Node Administrative Access

CCC.K8S.CN12 · Access

Block untrusted or unauthenticated paths to worker-node administration, kubelet interfaces, and instance metadata.

Related Capabilities

IDTitleDescription
CCC.K8S.CP02Managed Worker PoolsThe service can organize worker nodes into managed pools that provide Kubernetes with compute capacity for scheduling and running containerized workloads.
CCC.K8S.CP03Abstracted Worker InfrastructureThe service may be configured to abstract worker infrastructure so that provisioning, scaling, patching, and replacement occur without exposing individual nodes to the user.
CCC.K8S.CP19Workload Isolation ControlsThe service can separate workloads with security contexts, namespace boundaries, scheduling constraints, and runtime isolation settings.

Related Threats

IDTitleDescription
CCC.K8S.TH14Node Administrative Interfaces Expose Cluster CredentialsNode administrative interfaces reachable without sufficient authentication or network restriction may expose node metadata, workload credentials, logs, or execution functions. The node can then be queried or controlled outside the intended management path, allowing credential disclosure, unauthorized host changes, or disruption of scheduled workloads.

Assessment Requirements

IDTextApplicability
CCC.K8S.CN12.AR01When a worker node is active, kubelet and node administrative APIs MUST require authentication and authorization AND anonymous or read-only unauthenticated access MUST be disabled.tlp-clear, tlp-green, tlp-amber, tlp-red
CCC.K8S.CN12.AR02When SSH, RDP, or another node management interface is enabled, it MUST NOT be reachable from the public internet and MUST be restricted to an approved authenticated management path.tlp-clear, tlp-green, tlp-amber, tlp-red
CCC.K8S.CN12.AR03When a workload does not require instance metadata, network access from that workload to the node metadata service MUST be denied.tlp-green, tlp-amber, tlp-red

Guideline Mappings

FrameworkIDRemarks
NIST_800_53AC-17Remote Access
NIST_800_53CM-7Least Functionality
NIST_800_53IA-2Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)