node-feature-discovery-fips

Fips

Infra

Stig

Updated on September 5

Node-Feature-Discovery-FIPS Overview

Secure your stack with a FIPS-validated, hardened Node-Feature-Discovery 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.

Node Feature Discovery lets Kubernetes schedule workloads based on the actual hardware and system capabilities of each node — CPU instruction sets, GPUs, kernel version, and more — instead of requiring platform teams to manually inventory nodes and apply labels by hand. It runs continuously as a cluster add-on, keeping those labels current as nodes are added, removed, or reconfigured. Use this image when you need to meet the requirements for FIPS-validated cryptographic protection.

FIPS 140-3 Certification

This image is FIPS-validated to ensure its cryptographic operations meet the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) required for secure government and regulated environments. Its core cryptographic modules are validated under the NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) and comply with the FIPS 140-3 standard.

To verify that the FIPS 140-3 provider is configured and active, follow the instructions in the FIPS compliance tab.

Try It Out

Prerequisites

A running Kubernetes cluster
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: Deploy via Helm Chart

Update the chart version as appropriate and deploy:

helm install nfd oci://registry.k8s.io/nfd/charts/node-feature-discovery \
  --version 0.18.3 \
  --namespace node-feature-discovery \
  --create-namespace \
  --set image.repository=reg.mini.dev/node-feature-discovery-fips \
  --set image.tag=latest

Wait a minute and check that the Pods are up and running:

kubectl -n node-feature-discovery get pods

Confirm that Minimus images were deployed:

kubectl -n node-feature-discovery describe pods | grep Image:

Step 3: Confirm Node Labels

Node Feature Discovery labels each node in the cluster with the hardware and system features it detects. Confirm the labels were applied:

kubectl get no -o json | jq ".items[].metadata.labels"

"feature.node.kubernetes.io/cpu-cpuid.ADX": "true",
"feature.node.kubernetes.io/cpu-cpuid.AESNI": "true",
"feature.node.kubernetes.io/kernel-version.major": "6",

Step 4: Clean Up

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

helm uninstall nfd -n node-feature-discovery

Technical Considerations

The Node-Feature-Discovery-FIPS image provided by Minimus is a FIPS-validated, slim, security-hardened alternative to the public image.

Node-Feature-Discovery-FIPS built by Minimus:

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.