Review & Remediate Kubernetes Data Plane Hardening Recommendations
Implementation Effort: Medium
This task involves enabling Azure Policy for Kubernetes, reviewing hardening recommendations, and coordinating with platform teams to apply configuration changes across clusters.
User Impact: Low
Only infrastructure and security teams are involved in the remediation process; end users are not affected.
Overview
Microsoft Defender for Containers includes a set of Kubernetes data plane hardening recommendations that help secure the runtime environment of Kubernetes clusters. These recommendations are based on best practices and are enforced through Azure Policy for Kubernetes, which can be applied to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Arc-enabled clusters, and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters.
To review and remediate data plane hardening issues:
- Ensure Azure Policy for Kubernetes is enabled in Defender for Containers settings.
- Navigate to Microsoft Defender for Cloud > Recommendations.
- Review the list of Kubernetes data plane hardening recommendations, such as:
- Disabling privileged containers
- Enforcing read-only root file systems
- Restricting hostPath volumes
- Limiting container capabilities
- Apply remediations by:
- Updating Kubernetes manifests
- Applying policy constraints via Azure Policy or Gatekeeper
- Re-deploying workloads with secure configurations
This process supports the Zero Trust principle of "Use Least Privilege Access" by enforcing strict runtime controls and minimizing the attack surface of containerized workloads.
Risks if not implemented: Without data plane hardening, Kubernetes clusters may allow insecure configurations that can be exploited for container escapes, privilege escalation, or lateral movement within the cluster.