More Info:
The kubelet service file governs how the kubelet starts and should not be modifiable by non-privileged users. Permissions of 600 or more restrictive prevent tampering with node startup configuration.Risk Level
MediumAddress
SecurityCompliance Standards
- CIS Kubernetes
Triage and Remediation
- Remediation
Remediation
Manual Steps
Manual Steps
-
On every worker node, check current permissions for the kubelet service drop-in file:
-
If the permissions are more permissive than 600 (e.g., 644, 640), restrict them:
-
Confirm the ownership is root (optional but recommended) and adjust if needed:
-
Reload systemd configuration so it recognizes any metadata changes (no kubelet restart is required just for permission changes):
-
Verify the permissions are now 600 or more restrictive on each worker node:
Using kubectl
Using kubectl
kubectl cannot modify host-level systemd unit files such as
/etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service.d/10-kubeadm.conf; this must be fixed directly on every worker node’s OS. See the Manual Steps section for the exact chmod command and verification steps to run over SSH.Automation
Automation

