linkerd-cni-plugin

Infra

Updated 22 hours ago

Linkerd CNI-Plugin Overview

Secure your stack with a hardened Linkerd CNI-Plugin 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 Linkerd CNI plugin configures the same iptables traffic-redirection rules as Linkerd Proxy-Init, but applies them through CNI chaining at Pod creation time instead of a per-Pod init container. This removes the need to grant the NET_ADMIN and NET_RAW capabilities to every meshed workload. It runs as a DaemonSet on each node and must be installed before the Linkerd control plane.

Try It Out

We will use a Helm chart to deploy the Linkerd CNI plugin as a DaemonSet.

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 official Helm chart repository to your local Helm client.

helm repo add linkerd https://helm.linkerd.io/edge
helm repo update

Step 3: Install the Linkerd CNI Plugin

helm install linkerd-cni -n linkerd-cni --create-namespace linkerd/linkerd2-cni \
  --set image.name=reg.mini.dev/linkerd-cni-plugin

Check that the Pods are up and running:

kubectl -n linkerd-cni get po

Step 4: Verify the Minimus Image

Confirm that the DaemonSet is running the Minimus image:

kubectl -n linkerd-cni get ds linkerd-cni -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[*].image}'

Step 5: Clean Up

Uninstall the chart to delete the namespace and its resources, including Pods, ConfigMaps, and the DaemonSet:

helm uninstall linkerd-cni -n linkerd-cni

Technical Considerations

The Linkerd CNI-Plugin 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.

Linkerd CNI-Plugin built by Minimus:

Runs as root to support required functions in alignment with the public image.
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.