Chapter 06: Security Context & Pod Hardening

Why This Chapter Exists

Container defaults are not production-safe. This chapter enforces baseline pod hardening:

• non-root execution
• read-only root filesystem where possible
• dropped Linux capabilities
• runtime-default seccomp

The Incident Hook

A container compromise lands shell access inside a pod. If the pod runs with broad privileges, escalation is fast. If security context is hardened, attacker movement is constrained. This chapter teaches those constraints as default behavior.

Guardrails

• runAsNonRoot: true for pod and container.
• allowPrivilegeEscalation: false.
• capabilities.drop: [ALL].
• seccompProfile: RuntimeDefault.
• writable paths only via explicit volumes (/tmp, runtime/cache dirs).

Repo Mapping

Platform repository references:

• Backend deployment hardening
• Frontend deployment hardening
• Namespace baseline manifests

Current Implementation (This Repo)

• Backend is non-root, read-only root FS, dropped capabilities, seccomp runtime default.
• Frontend is non-root, read-only root FS, dropped capabilities, seccomp runtime default.
• Writable paths are explicitly mounted through emptyDir volumes.

Lab Files

• lab.md
• quiz.md

Done When

• learner can prove both workloads run non-root with hardened contexts
• learner can diagnose and fix permission failures without enabling root
• learner can explain why privileged shortcuts are rejected