More Info:
Verifies that —service-account-lookup is set to true so service account tokens are validated against etcd, ensuring deleted tokens are rejected.Risk Level
HighAddress
SecurityCompliance Standards
- CIS Kubernetes
Triage and Remediation
- Remediation
Remediation
Manual Steps
Manual Steps
-
On every control plane node, open the API server static pod manifest for editing:
-
In the
command:orargs:list forkube-apiserver, either:-
Add the flag if missing:
-
Or, if a line like this exists, change it to
true: -
Alternatively, you may delete the entire
- --service-account-lookup=...line to rely on the secure default.
-
Add the flag if missing:
-
Save the file and exit the editor. The kubelet will automatically detect the manifest change and restart the
kube-apiserverstatic pod on that control plane node. -
Wait 30–60 seconds for the API server pod to restart, then verify the process on that node includes the correct flag (or that the flag is absent, using the default):
-
In the output, confirm either:
--service-account-lookup=trueis present in the command line, or- there is no
--service-account-lookup=flag at all.
Using kubectl
Using kubectl
kubectl cannot modify the API server’s static pod manifest or its process flags. This setting must be changed directly on each control plane node in /etc/kubernetes/manifests/kube-apiserver.yaml; see the Manual Steps section for the required host-level changes.Automation
Automation

