This CKAD practice question tests your understanding of application environment, configuration and security. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A cluster administrator wants to prevent all pods in a namespace from running with privileged escalation. Which Pod Security Admission standard enforces this?
baseline
Why wrong: Baseline prevents known privilege escalations but allows some less restrictive settings.
restricted
The restricted profile disallows privilege escalation and enforces many security constraints.
privileged
Why wrong: This standard allows all privileges, including privilege escalation.
high
Why wrong: There is no 'high' standard in Pod Security Admission.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
restricted
The 'restricted' Pod Security Admission (PSA) standard enforces the most stringent security controls, including preventing privileged escalation by setting `securityContext.AllowPrivilegeEscalation` to `false` and requiring containers to run as non-root. This directly addresses the cluster administrator's goal of blocking privilege escalation in all pods within a namespace.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
baseline
Why it's wrong here
Baseline prevents known privilege escalations but allows some less restrictive settings.
restricted
Why this is correct
The restricted profile disallows privilege escalation and enforces many security constraints.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
privileged
Why it's wrong here
This standard allows all privileges, including privilege escalation.
high
Why it's wrong here
There is no 'high' standard in Pod Security Admission.
Common exam traps
CNCF often tests the distinction between 'baseline' and 'restricted' standards, where candidates mistakenly choose 'baseline' because it blocks some privilege escalation but fails to recognize that 'restricted' is the only standard that explicitly and comprehensively prohibits `AllowPrivilegeEscalation`.
Detailed technical explanation
The 'restricted' standard enforces a hardened pod security context, including `seccomp` profile set to `RuntimeDefault` or `Localhost`, and `RunAsUser` must be non-root. Under the hood, this is implemented via the `PodSecurity` admission controller, which evaluates pods against the chosen policy level at creation or update time, rejecting those that violate the constraints. In practice, this prevents container escape attacks that rely on privilege escalation, such as exploiting kernel vulnerabilities to gain host-level access.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A junior network technician can log in to a core router but cannot reach the enable prompt or configuration mode. The AAA server is authenticating the login — but the authorisation policy only grants privilege level 1, not 15. Authentication (who you are) is working; authorisation (what you can do) is not.
What to study next
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FAQ
Application Environment, Configuration and Security — This question tests Application Environment, Configuration and Security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: restricted — The 'restricted' Pod Security Admission (PSA) standard enforces the most stringent security controls, including preventing privileged escalation by setting `securityContext.AllowPrivilegeEscalation` to `false` and requiring containers to run as non-root. This directly addresses the cluster administrator's goal of blocking privilege escalation in all pods within a namespace.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This CKAD practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CKAD exam.
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