kubeconfig-operator

README

Kubeconfig Operator

This controller implements a Kubeconfig custom resource to generate a kubeconfig file with a specified set of permissions.

The following example creates a kubeconfig limited to

• read access for namespaces
• read access for configmaps in namespace: kube-system
• read/write access for configmaps in namespace: default

Quickstart

Install the newest version operator:

kubectl apply -k "github.com/klaudworks/kubeconfig-operator/manifests/base?ref=main"

Then, apply the following Kubeconfig:

apiVersion: klaud.works/v1alpha1
kind: Kubeconfig
metadata:
  name: restricted-access
spec:
  clusterName: local-kind-cluster
  # specify external endpoint to your kubernetes API.
  # You can copy this from your other kubeconfig.
  server: https://127.0.0.1:52856   
  clusterPermissions:
    rules:
    - apiGroups:
      - ""
      resources:
      - namespaces
      verbs:
      - get
      - list
      - watch
  namespacedPermissions:
  - namespace: default
    rules:
    - apiGroups:
      - ""
      resources:
      - configmaps
      verbs:
      - '*'
  - namespace: kube-system
    rules:
    - apiGroups:
      - ""
      resources:
      - configmaps
      verbs:
      - get
      - list
      - watch

After applying the Kubeconfig custom resource, you can view it's expiration and refresh time in the overview.

Extract and store your kubeconfig from the secret it is stored in:

kubectl get secret restricted-access -o jsonpath="{.data.kubeconfig}" | base64 --decode > restricted-access-kubeconfig.yaml

How does the operator work?

FAQ

1. What do I use this for?

• limit access for different users e.g. to a dev namespace
• protect yourself (and others) from accidentally performing destructive actions by using a restricted (e.g. readonly) Kubeconfig for day to day operations.

1. How to revoke a Kubeconfig?

• just delete the Kubeconfig resource from the cluster and the service account that grants permissions will be cleaned up.

1. When will the Kubeconfig be refreshed?

• the current setting is that the kubeconfig in the secret is refreshed after 80% of it's validity passes. I.e. if the expirationTTL is set as 100 days, the kubeconfig expires after 80 days.

1. What happens when a Kubeconfig expires?

• you will not be able to use it anymore and have to copy the new kubeconfig from the secret.

Local Development

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone github.com:klaudworks/kubeconfig-operator.git
   

2. Ensure you install kind or you have another Kubernetes distribution installed.
3. Install the CRDs

   kubectl apply -f manifests/crd
   

4. Create the namespace for the controller

   kubectl create namespace kubeconfig-operator
   

5. Test the controller with the Kubeconfig yaml manifest from above.
6. Run the actual controller locally via:

   go run cmd/main.go --kubeconfig ~/.kube/kind.yaml --kubecontext kind-kind  
   

7. Download the kubeconfig

   kubectl get secret restricted-access-kubeconfig -o jsonpath="{.data.kubeconfig}" | base64 --decode
   

Additional information

Achilles SDK

This operator is based on Achilles SDK developed by reddit. It allows us to specify the operator's behavior as a finite state machine.