Limit Service Account Permissions in Kubernetes

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Limit Service Account Permissions in Kubernetes

Service accounts can be a useful tool in Kubernetes, but they could become a security risk if their permissions are too broad. In this lab, you will practice your Kubernetes security skills by restricting permissions for a service account to only those that are necessary.

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Lab Info

Level

Advanced

Last updated

Oct 11, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Create a Service Account with Appropriate Permissions for the pod-watch Pod

The pod-watch Pod in the auth namespace needs to be able to get and list Pods and Pod logs in the auth namespace.

Create a service account called pod-monitor and assign it appropriate RBAC permissions for the pod-watch Pod.

Modify the pod-watch Pod to use the new service account. Note that you will need to delete and re-create the Pod to do this. A manifest for the Pod can be found in /home/cloud_user.
Challenge

Create a Service Account with Appropriate Permissions for the svc-watch Pod

The svc-watch Pod in the auth namespace needs to be able to get and list Services and Endpoints in the auth namespace.

Create a service account called svc-monitor in the auth namespace and assign it appropriate RBAC permissions for the svc-watch Pod.

Modify the svc-watch Pod to use the new service account. Note that you will need to delete and re-create the Pod to this. A manifest for the Pod can be found in /home/cloud_user.
Challenge

Delete the Old Shared Service Account

Delete the old auth-sa service account that these Pods were using previously.

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