More Info:
Ensure that the Container Network Interface files have permissions of 644 or more restrictive.Risk Level
MediumAddress
SecurityCompliance Standards
- CIS Kubernetes
Triage and Remediation
- Remediation
Remediation
Manual Steps
Manual Steps
-
On every control plane node, identify the directory where CNI configuration files are stored (from the kubelet flag, if present):
If this prints nothing, use the default
/etc/cni/net.d(or your known CNI conf directory). -
On every control plane node, set permissions on all CNI configuration files in the CNI conf directory to
644: -
On every control plane node, set permissions on all CNI state/network files under
/var/lib/cni/networksto644: -
(Optional hardening) On every control plane node, restrict directory execute/search permissions so only root can traverse:
-
Verification on every control plane node:
Confirm that all reported permissions are
644or a more restrictive value (e.g.,640,600).
Using kubectl
Using kubectl
kubectl cannot modify file permissions on the node filesystem, including
/var/lib/cni/networks or any CNI configuration directories. To remediate this finding, you must change permissions directly on every control plane node’s host OS; see the Manual Steps section for the required SSH-based commands.Automation
Automation

