Skip to main content

More Info:

etcd should be configured for peer authentication

Risk Level

Medium

Address

Security

Compliance Standards

  • CIS Kubernetes

Triage and Remediation

Remediation

Manual Steps

  1. On every etcd (control plane) node, back up the existing manifest:
  2. On every etcd (control plane) node, edit the etcd static pod manifest:
    In the spec.containers[0].command (or args) section, add or adjust the flag so it appears exactly as:
    Ensure there is no other --peer-client-cert-auth= flag with a different value.
  3. Save the file and exit the editor. The kubelet will automatically detect the change to /etc/kubernetes/manifests/etcd.yaml and restart the etcd static pod. This causes a brief etcd/control-plane disruption; perform during a maintenance window if needed.
  4. On every etcd (control plane) node, wait for the etcd container to restart and become running:
    (Use the appropriate container runtime command for your nodes.)
  5. On every etcd (control plane) node, verify the flag is now set:
    The command should return the etcd process line containing --peer-client-cert-auth=true and no occurrences with =false.
kubectl cannot modify the etcd static pod manifest or its process flags, so this finding cannot be fixed via the Kubernetes API. To remediate, you must edit /etc/kubernetes/manifests/etcd.yaml directly on every etcd node; follow the guidance in the Manual Steps section.

Additional Reading: