cis-operator

Infra

Updated on July 26

CIS-Operator Overview

Secure your stack with a hardened CIS-Operator image freshly-built by Minimus. Minimus images always include the most up-to-date package version for all packages and dependencies contained in the image.

The CIS Operator is a Kubernetes operator that automates CIS benchmark security scans against your cluster configuration and generates compliance reports. CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks are consensus-based security configuration guidelines used by organizations worldwide to harden systems against cyber threats.

Try It Out

Prerequisites

A running Kubernetes cluster (v1.21 or higher is recommended)
Helm v3.8 or higher for OCI support (Installation instructions)
kubectl installed and configured

Step 1: Start Cluster

If you have a cluster to work with, skip this step. Otherwise, start a Minikube cluster. Deployment instructions

Step 2: Add Repository to your Local Client

Add the Helm chart to your local Helm client.

helm repo add rancher-charts https://charts.rancher.io
helm repo update

Step 3: Deploy via Helm Chart

If you don't already have a namespace cis-operator-system, create it:

kubectl create namespace cis-operator-system

Pre-create the operator service account so it is in place before the chart deploys the pod:

kubectl create serviceaccount cis-operator-serviceaccount \
  -n cis-operator-system

Add the Helm release annotations so that Helm can adopt the pre-created service account without a conflict:

kubectl annotate serviceaccount cis-operator-serviceaccount \
  -n cis-operator-system \
  meta.helm.sh/release-name=cis-operator \
  meta.helm.sh/release-namespace=cis-operator-system

Mark the service account as Helm-managed to satisfy Helm's ownership validation:

kubectl label serviceaccount cis-operator-serviceaccount \
  -n cis-operator-system \
  app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=Helm

Install the required CRDs first:

helm upgrade --install rancher-cis-benchmark-crd rancher-charts/rancher-cis-benchmark-crd \
  --namespace cis-operator-system

Deploy the operator:

helm upgrade --install cis-operator rancher-charts/rancher-cis-benchmark \
  --namespace cis-operator-system \
  --set image.cisoperator.repository='reg.mini.dev/cis-operator' \
  --set image.cisoperator.tag='latest'

Wait a minute and check that the Pod is up and running:

kubectl -n cis-operator-system get po

Confirm that Minimus images were deployed:

kubectl -n cis-operator-system describe pods | grep Image:

Clean Up

Uninstall the chart to delete the namespace and its resources, including Pods, Deployments, Services, Secrets, ConfigMaps, etc.:

helm uninstall cis-operator -n cis-operator-system
helm uninstall rancher-cis-benchmark-crd -n cis-operator-system

Technical Considerations

The CIS-Operator image provided by Minimus is a slim, security-hardened alternative to the public image from Docker Hub. The images are largely interchangeable, with a few differences as noted below.

CIS-Operator built by Minimus:

Runs as non-root by default for a security-first approach that protects against privilege escalation attacks.
Drill down on the version specification tab to see the default user, listening ports, entrypoint, volumes, environment variables, etc.

The Payoff

A hardened, minimal image that will remain more secure for the long run and accrue vulnerabilities at a slower rate.

See the risk reduction dashboard for a detailed CVE comparison over the past 30 days.
Review the compliance report to see the default hardening and security configurations for the image.

Terms & Info

Trademark

This catalog is published by Minimus. All product names, logos, and marks, other than those belonging to Minimus, shown are owned by their respective rights holders and appear here only to identify the open source software each image contains. Minimus claims no ownership of those marks and implies no affiliation with, endorsement by, certification by, or sponsorship by any rights holder.

Disclaimer

Images are provided "as-is" without warranty of any kind. "Hardened" refers to the security configuration applied at the time of build and does not constitute a guarantee of ongoing security or absence of vulnerabilities. The free tier is provided without support, SLA, or guaranteed patching timelines. Security updates may be applied to paid subscriptions before or instead of free tier images. By pulling or using any image you agree to our Terms of Use.