Hands-on Lab·Kubernetes and Cloud Native Security Associate
Privilege Escalation Paths in RBAC
Auditing RBAC by reading it does not scale - there are 74 ClusterRoles on a cluster with nothing installed. This guide is the three queries that answer the questions that matter, and what a good answer looks like.
Security Fundamentals Guide 20 of 42 Intermediate
- Kubernetesapiserver v1.36.4, kubelet v1.36.3
- Runtimecontainerd 2.2.6
- CNICilium 1.18.1 - tunnel/VXLAN, with Hubble relay and UI
- Host OSUbuntu 26.04 LTS, kernel 7.0.0-29
- Built withkubeadm v1.36.3 - podSubnet 10.244.0.0/16, serviceSubnet 10.96.0.0/12
- TimeAbout 14 min
- Reviewed25 August 2026
Written against the versions above. The built-in ClusterRoles and bindings are Kubernetes' own, on a kubeadm cluster with no add-ons beyond a CNI. Counts on a real cluster will be higher and the queries are the same.
| Server Name | IP Address | OS | Roles | CPU | RAM | HDD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CKA5001 | 192.168.0.41 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Control Plane Node (tainted NoSchedule) | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA5001-NODE01 | 192.168.0.42 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA5001-NODE02 | 192.168.0.43 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA5001-NODE03 | 192.168.0.44 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
Before you start
- guide 18 - how a grant is made.
-
Who holds cluster-admin
-
What an unauthenticated caller can reach
-
Why you query instead of reading