ITGSS Certified DevOps Engineer Practice Test

Which component allows anyone with root permission to read any secret in Kubernetes?

1. Master Node

2. API Server

3. Scheduler

4. Controller Manager

The correct answer is: API Server

In Kubernetes, the API Server is the central management component that exposes the Kubernetes API. It acts as the gateway for all interactions with the cluster, including handling requests to create, read, update, or delete resources within the cluster. Secret management in Kubernetes is crucial because it allows sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and SSH keys, to be stored and managed securely. However, access control is primarily governed by the underlying Kubernetes RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) mechanism. Anyone with root permission or sufficient privileges on the Kubernetes API Server can access these secrets because the API Server does not inherently enforce stricter controls beyond those defined in RBAC policies. If a user has the ability to authenticate as a cluster administrator, they can request secrets from the API Server without any additional restrictions, thereby gaining read access to all secrets across the cluster. This capability highlights an important aspect of Kubernetes security—managing access permissions carefully is essential to protecting sensitive data. The other components, such as the Master Node, Scheduler, and Controller Manager, play different roles in the Kubernetes architecture but do not directly facilitate access to secrets in the manner that the API Server does.