Securing your Kubernetes cluster with Kubewarden

Kubernetes is increasingly becoming the primary operating system for cloud environments, supported by all major cloud providers and adaptable through on-premises deployment, with Helm serving as its package manager. While Kubernetes offers considerable flexibility, it can be challenging to maintain a production cluster without effective controls, as its Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC) only provide limited resource management. Admission controllers like Kubewarden enhance control by allowing teams to inspect and modify resources before deployment, ensuring compliance with specific requirements. Kubewarden supports admission policies written in various languages compiled to WebAssembly, enabling fine-grained control over resource properties. The installation of Kubewarden is simplified through its Helm chart, and it can prevent undesirable resource configurations by implementing policies like psp-capabilities, which can, for instance, block pods with the SYS_TIME capability. This approach provides a higher level of security and control over resource deployment than standard RBAC, as demonstrated through practical deployment scenarios.