More Info:
The kubelet —tls-cert-file and —tls-private-key-file arguments should be set so the kubelet serves its API over TLS with a valid certificate. Without them, kubelet traffic may be unencrypted.Risk Level
MediumAddress
SecurityCompliance Standards
- CIS OKE
Triage and Remediation
- Remediation
Remediation
Manual Steps
Manual Steps
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On every worker node, check the current kubelet process arguments to confirm the flags are missing or incorrect:
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On every worker node, open the kubelet systemd drop-in config for editing:
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In the opened file, locate the line starting with
ExecStart=and ensure it includes the following flags (add or correct them within the existing line, preserving other arguments):For example, theExecStart=line should contain (example only; keep your other flags): -
On every worker node, reload systemd and restart kubelet (this will restart the kubelet and may briefly impact node scheduling/registration):
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On every worker node, check that kubelet is healthy:
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On every worker node, verify that the kubelet is now running with the correct TLS certificate and key arguments:
Confirm the output shows:
Using kubectl
Using kubectl
kubectl cannot modify kubelet process flags or host-level config files, so this finding cannot be fixed via Kubernetes API objects. The correction must be done on each worker node’s OS (editing
/etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service.d/00-default.conf and related files); follow the Manual Steps section for the exact procedure.Automation
Automation

