Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) has become a cornerstone for scalable containerized applications, simplifying orchestration and infrastructure management for cloud-native teams. However, recent discoveries reveal that misconfigurations in EKS workloads can expose sensitive AWS credentials, putting entire environments at risk.
This blog explores the nature of these risks, how attackers can exploit them, and most importantly, how your organization can take immediate, actionable steps to mitigate them.
What’s the Underlying Risk in Amazon EKS?
At the heart of the issue is the EKS Pod Identity Agent, which provides temporary AWS IAM credentials to pods via a local HTTP endpoint (169.254.170.23). While this architecture is designed to simplify credential access, it can become an attack vector when pods are misconfigured.
How Can Attackers Exploit It?
Two primary exploit paths have been identified:
- Packet Sniffing via hostNetwork and CAP_NET_RAW
When a pod is deployed withhostNetwork: trueandCAP_NET_RAW, attackers can use tools liketcpdumpto intercept HTTP traffic and extract AWS credentials from the metadata service. - API Spoofing via CAP_NET_ADMIN
By leveragingCAP_NET_ADMIN, attackers can manipulate network settings to disable the legitimate metadata agent and redirect traffic to a fake server—tricking other pods into revealing their credentials.
Both techniques can lead to unauthorized access to AWS services, privilege escalation, and potential compromise of critical cloud resources.
Isn’t AWS Responsible for This?
AWS’s position is clear: this behavior is expected and falls under the shared responsibility model. AWS secures the infrastructure; customers are responsible for securing configurations at the container and workload levels.
In other words, it’s not a vulnerability in EKS itself — but a gap in how workloads are configured.
What Should Security Teams Be Doing Differently?
These findings serve as a cautionary tale. Managed services don’t eliminate risk — they shift it. Security leaders must recognize that elevated container privileges and lax network configurations are the modern equivalents of open ports and default passwords.
Proactive risk management, not reactive patching, is the key.
What Can You Do Today to Protect Your EKS Clusters?
Here’s a practical, security-focused checklist:
Step :
1.Audit existing workloads for use of hostNetwork, CAP_NET_RAW, and CAP_NET_ADMIN.
2.Apply least privilege principles by removing unnecessary Linux capabilities.
3.Enforce Kubernetes Pod Security Standards or use OPA/Gatekeeper to restrict insecure deployments.
4.Ensure containers run as non-root users whenever possible.
5.Deploy container runtime security tools to detect abnormal behavior in real time.
6.Train DevOps teams to identify and avoid insecure pod configurations.
Which Tools Can Help Automate This Protection?
Security platforms such as Trend Vision One, Aqua Security, and Sysdig provide robust capabilities for container runtime protection, policy enforcement, and behavioral monitoring. These tools can:
- Alert on unauthorized network changes
- Enforce runtime access restrictions
- Detect misuse of system capabilities in real-time
- Integrate seamlessly into DevSecOps pipelines
What Does This Mean for the Future of Cloud Security?
The EKS misconfiguration findings highlight a broader trend: attackers are no longer relying solely on exploits — they’re relying on your missteps. Cloud-native security must evolve to anticipate misconfigurations just as much as malware.
Security isn’t just about hardening endpoints anymore. It’s about building resilience into every layer of the development process.
Is Your Kubernetes Security Posture Where It Needs to Be?
At Finstein, we specialize in helping organizations audit and secure their Kubernetes environments — especially in EKS. From CI/CD integration to policy enforcement, our team enables DevSecOps best practices that scale with your business.
Our Kubernetes Security Services Include:
- EKS Configuration Risk Assessments
- Pod and Network Policy Implementation
- Container Security Tooling Setup
- Developer Training and Policy Workshops
For expert guidance on securing your Amazon EKS workloads and building a resilient Kubernetes security posture, reach out to Praveen Kumar at Finstein:
Praveen Kumar
📧 Email: Praveen@Finstein.ai
📞 Phone: +91 99400 16037
🌐 Website: www.cyber.finstein.ai
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