How to Create Kubernetes Audit Policy

Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration system that helps automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. One of the critical features of Kubernetes is auditing, which allows you to track the activities of your cluster components and users. Auditing provides a comprehensive record of all API requests and responses, including who made the request, when, and what they did.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a Kubernetes audit policy to monitor and track your Kubernetes activities.

Step 1: Install the Kubernetes Audit Policy

The first step in creating a Kubernetes audit policy is to install the audit policy. You can install the audit policy by running the following command:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/website/main/content/en/examples/policy/audit/audit-policy.yaml

This command will download and apply the Kubernetes audit policy.

Step 2: Create a Kubernetes Audit Log

Next, you need to create a Kubernetes audit log to store the audit records. You can create a Kubernetes audit log by running the following command:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/website/main/content/en/examples/policy/audit/audit-log.yaml

This command will create a Kubernetes audit log.

Step 3: Create a Kubernetes Audit Policy File

Now that you have installed the Kubernetes audit policy and created the audit log, you need to create an audit policy file. The audit policy file defines the rules that Kubernetes uses to generate audit events. You can create an audit policy file by creating a YAML file with the following content:

apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1
kind: Policy
rules:
- level: Metadata
  resources:
  - group: ""
    resources: ["pods"]
  verbs: ["get", "watch", "list"]

This audit policy file defines a rule that generates audit events for all "get," "watch," and "list" requests for pods.

Step 4: Apply the Kubernetes Audit Policy File

To apply the audit policy file, you can run the following command:

kubectl apply -f audit-policy.yaml

This command will apply the audit policy file.

Step 5: Verify the Kubernetes Audit Policy

To verify that the Kubernetes audit policy is working correctly, you can run the following command to generate a test audit event:

kubectl get pods

This command will generate an audit event for the "get" request to the pods resource. You can then view the audit event by running the following command:

kubectl logs -f -n kube-system <audit-log-pod-name>

This command will display the audit event in the audit log.

More Examples

Here are some examples of other audit policy rules you can add to your audit policy file:

• Log all API requests and responses for all resources:

apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1
kind: Policy
rules:
- level: RequestResponse

• Log all API requests and responses for a specific namespace:

apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1
kind: Policy
rules:
- level: RequestResponse
  namespaces: ["example"]

• Log all API requests and responses for a specific user:

apiVersion: audit.k8s.io/v1
kind: Policy
rules:
- level: RequestResponse
  userGroups: ["system:authenticated"]

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That's it for this post. Keep practicing and have fun. Leave your comments if any.