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CLOUD PENETRATION TESTING SERVICES

Kubernetes and Container Penetration Testing Services

Kubernetes penetration testing is a manual, expert-led security assessment of your Kubernetes clusters and container workloads that finds and proves exploitable weaknesses, RBAC misconfiguration, exposed API server and kubelet, container escape, service-account token abuse, and supply-chain risk, before an attacker does. Bluefire Redteam tests EKS, AKS, GKE, and self-managed clusters, with exploit-validated findings, developer-ready remediation, and a scoped quote within 24 hours. Kubernetes and container penetration testing is part of our broader cloud penetration testing services

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Kubernetes and Container Penetration Testing at a glance

  • What we test: cluster RBAC, API server and kubelet exposure, container escape and breakout, service-account tokens, secrets, network policy, admission control, and image supply chain
  • Platforms: Amazon EKS, Azure AKS, Google GKE, and self-managed Kubernetes
  • Aligned to: MITRE ATT&CK for Containers, CIS Kubernetes Benchmark, NSA/CISA Kubernetes Hardening Guidance
  • Access needed: cluster-reader access plus scope; grey-box: a low-privilege service account or pod to simulate a compromised workload
  • Production-safe: rate-limited, destructive techniques excluded by default
  • Deliverable: exploit-validated findings, developer-ready fixes, free retest
  • Turnaround: scoped quote in 5 hours

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What We Test in Your Kubernetes and Container Environment

Cluster RBAC and Authorisation

Over-permissioned roles and role bindings, wildcard permissions, escalate and bind verb abuse, paths from a namespace-scoped identity to cluster-admin, and default service-account exposure.

Exposed Control Plane and Components

Publicly reachable API server, kubelet read/write API exposure, unauthenticated dashboards, exposed etcd, and insecure kube-proxy or metrics endpoints.

Container Escape and Breakout

Privileged containers, hostPath and host namespace mounts, dangerous capabilities, writable host paths, and paths from a compromised pod to the underlying node and cluster.

Service-Account Tokens and Secrets

Automounted service-account token abuse, token privilege mapping, secret exposure in env vars and mounted volumes, and secrets reachable across namespaces.

Cloud Metadata and Workload Identity

Pod access to the cloud metadata endpoint (IMDS on EKS, IRSA, Azure workload identity, GKE workload identity), and paths from a pod into the underlying cloud account.

Network Policy and Lateral Movement

Missing or permissive network policies, east-west movement between pods and namespaces, and exposed internal services.

Admission Control and Policy

Pod Security Standards, admission controllers (OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno), and gaps that allow insecure workloads to run.

Image and Supply-Chain Security

Vulnerable and outdated base images, hardcoded secrets in images, unsigned images, exposed registries, and build-pipeline weaknesses.

Detection and Logging

Whether audit logging and runtime security tooling detected our activity, and where coverage gaps exist.

Our Kubernetes Penetration Testing Process

Scoping

Confirm clusters, platform (EKS/AKS/GKE/self-managed), namespaces, and starting position (external, or assumed-breach from a low-privilege pod), and document authorisation.

Map the cluster, RBAC, service accounts, workloads, secrets, and network topology.

Test RBAC escalation, exposed components, container escape, token abuse, and pod-to-node and pod-to-cloud movement.

Assess cluster-admin reachability, secret and data exposure, and paths into the underlying cloud account.

Exploit-validated findings, business-impact ratings, developer-ready fixes. See our full penetration testing services.

To confirm every fix holds.

Frameworks We Test Against

Our Kubernetes and container testing aligns to MITRE ATT&CK for Containers, the CIS Kubernetes Benchmark, and the NSA/CISA Kubernetes Hardening Guidance, and supports PCI DSS, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 requirements.

Kubernetes Penetration Testing Checklist

  • RBAC: no wildcard or cluster-admin bindings beyond need, escalate/bind verbs restricted
  • API server and kubelet: not publicly exposed, anonymous auth disabled
  • Pods: no privileged pods, host namespaces or hostPath unless required, drop capabilities
  • Service accounts: automount disabled where not needed, least-privilege tokens
  • Secrets: not in env vars, encryption at rest, scoped access
  • Network policies: default-deny, east-west movement restricted
  • Admission control: Pod Security Standards enforced, OPA/Gatekeeper or Kyverno in place
  • Images: scanned, signed, minimal base, no hardcoded secrets
  • Cloud identity: pods cannot reach the cloud metadata endpoint unnecessarily
  • Logging: API audit logging and runtime detection enabled

Want the full checklist? Download the Kubernetes Penetration Testing Checklist (PDF)

Key Benefits of Our Kubernetes and Container Penetration Testing

Stop cluster takeover

The RBAC and container-escape paths that lead to cluster-admin and node compromise.

Protect secrets and data

Exposed tokens, secrets, and cross-namespace access.

Contain the blast radius

Prove whether a single compromised pod can reach the node, other namespaces, or the cloud account.

Compliance assurance

CIS Kubernetes Benchmark, PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOC 2. Pair with our red team services for adversary-driven validation.

Reporting for every audience

Board-ready risk narrative and developer-ready remediation.

FAQ - Kubernetes penetration testing

  • A manual, expert-led security assessment of your Kubernetes clusters and container workloads that finds and proves exploitable weaknesses in RBAC, the control plane, container isolation, secrets, and the image supply chain.
  • Container testing focuses on image and runtime security (vulnerable images, misconfiguration, breakout). Kubernetes testing adds the cluster layer, RBAC, the control plane, service-account tokens, and cluster-wide lateral movement. We cover both.
  • Yes, along with self-managed Kubernetes. We also test the path from a compromised pod into the underlying AWS, Azure, or GCP account.
  • Often, yes. Privileged pods, over-permissioned service accounts, and RBAC gaps frequently allow a single pod to escalate to cluster-admin or escape to the node. Proving this is a core objective.
  • For assumed-breach testing, a low-privilege service account or pod to simulate a compromised workload. For a broader review, cluster-reader access plus the in-scope namespaces.
  • No. Testing is rate-limited, destructive techniques are excluded, and anything potentially disruptive requires explicit approval and a scheduled window.
  • At least annually, and after major cluster, RBAC, or platform changes, or a migration between managed services.

Secure Your Kubernetes Clusters Before an Attacker Does

Get a scoped Kubernetes and container penetration testing plan and quote within 5 hours, reviewed by a senior operator. Exploit-proven findings, developer-ready fixes, and a free retest are included.

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