Kubernetes is now widely adopted across startups, enterprises, and cloud-native organizations. However, in many real-world environments, Kubernetes security is still treated as an afterthought. Clusters are often misconfigured, default settings are left unchanged, and security best practices are rarely validated.
This article focuses on Kubernetes Security Posture Management (KSPM) – not Kubernetes penetration testing. The goal here is to assess Kubernetes clusters against established security benchmarks such as CIS Kubernetes Benchmark, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001, and identify security gaps before attackers do.
What is KSPM(Kubernetes Security Posture Management)?
KSPM (Kubernetes Security Posture Management) is the process of continuously assessing and monitoring Kubernetes clusters to ensure they follow security best practices and compliance standards.
KSPM tools help you:
1. Detect misconfigurations in clusters
2. Validate compliance with benchmarks like CIS
3. Improve overall Kubernetes security posture
4. Reduce attack surface without deploying agents
What is Prowler?
Prowler is a powerful open-source security assessment tool that fits perfectly into KSPM use cases. It’s actively maintained, and supports Kubernetes benchmarks like CIS Kubernetes, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001. It does not require agents inside the cluster, making it ideal for quick assessments and learning-focused labs.
Because of its simplicity and depth, Prowler is a great choice for both beginners and experienced security professionals.
Vulnerable Kubernetes Lab Setup
For this demonstration, we need a deliberately vulnerable Kubernetes environment. Here, we’ll use Kubernetes Goat. Kubernetes Goat is a “vulnerable-by-design” Kubernetes cluster created for learning and practicing Kubernetes security through hands-on scenarios.
Let’s walk through the setup step by step.
1: Install Docker
If you are using Linux, install Docker using the following command.
apt install docker.io 2: Install Kubectl
Install kubectl, the Kubernetes command-line tool, to interact with the cluster.
sudo apt install -y kubectl3: Install Minikube
Install Minikube to run a local Kubernetes cluster.
wget https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64
sudo install minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube4: Deploy Kubernetes Goat
Clone the Kubernetes Goat repository and deploy the vulnerable resources.
git clone https://github.com/madhuakula/kubernetes-goat.git
cd kubernetes-goat
chmod +x setup-kubernetes-goat.sh
bash setup-kubernetes-goat.shVerify that all pods are running and then execute the access script.
kubectl get pods
bash access-kubernetes-goat.shInstall Prowler
To perform Kubernetes Security Posture Management, you must use Prowler version 5.x, as it includes Kubernetes support. There are multiple ways to install Prowler, but the easiest and cleanest method is to clone and build it from GitHub. Follow the commands below to install prowler. It requires Python >3.9.1, <3.13 with pip and poetry.
git clone https://github.com/prowler-cloud/prowler
cd prowler
eval $(poetry env activate)
poetry install
prowler -hExecute Prowler for Kubernetes (KSPM)
Run the following command to scan your Kubernetes cluster.
prowler kubernetes --namespace default --kubeconfig /home/kali/.kube/config
This command evaluates your cluster against Kubernetes security benchmarks and generates detailed findings.
To visualize the scan results in a browser-based dashboard, run the below command.
prowler dashboardOpen the displayed URL in your browser to explore compliance findings, failed checks, and security gaps in an easy-to-understand format.
Conclusion
Kubernetes Security Posture Management is a critical but often overlooked part of Kubernetes security. Tools like Prowler make it easy to assess clusters against industry standards without deploying agents or complex setups. If you’re interested in collaborating with me on real-world testing, tool development, or writing together, feel free to reach out via Collaboration page. Thank you!!
