Pod Security Admission Restricted Profile Requirements
Which THREE configurations are part of Pod Security Admission's 'restricted' profile? (Select THREE.)
Quick Answer
The answer is that the restricted profile requires capabilities to drop ALL, runAsNonRoot to be true, and seccompProfile to be set to RuntimeDefault or Localhost. This profile enforces the most stringent Pod Security Admission standards by preventing privilege escalation at multiple layers: dropping all Linux capabilities removes granular kernel permissions, forcing non-root execution eliminates the most common attack vector, and mandatory seccomp profiles restrict system calls to a safe subset. On the CKAD exam, this appears as a multi-select question testing your ability to distinguish the restricted profile from the baseline or privileged profiles—a common trap is confusing the baseline requirement to drop only NET_RAW with the restricted requirement to drop ALL capabilities. The key memory tip is to think of the restricted profile as a triple lock: no root, no caps, no extra syscalls.
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse the 'restricted' profile with the 'baseline' profile, mistakenly thinking that options like `allowPrivilegeEscalation: true` or privileged containers are acceptable, when in fact the restricted profile explicitly prohibits them.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
runAsNonRoot: true
The 'restricted' profile in Pod Security Admission enforces the most stringent security standards. Option A is correct because `runAsNonRoot: true` is a required field in the restricted profile, ensuring containers cannot run as the root user, which mitigates privilege escalation risks.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
runAsNonRoot: true
Why this is correct
Correct. Containers must run as non-root.
- ✓
seccompProfile.type: RuntimeDefault
Why this is correct
Correct. The restricted profile requires seccomp to be set to RuntimeDefault or Localhost.
- ✓
capabilities must drop ALL
Why this is correct
Correct. The restricted profile requires all capabilities to be dropped, except NET_BIND_SERVICE can be added.
- ✗
allowPrivilegeEscalation: true
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. allowPrivilegeEscalation must be false in restricted profile.
- ✗
Privileged containers allowed
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The restricted profile does not allow privileged containers.
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Same concept, more angles
8 more ways this is tested on CKAD
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A cluster administrator wants to prevent all pods in a namespace from running with privileged escalation. Which Pod Security Admission standard enforces this?
medium- A.baseline
- ✓ B.restricted
- C.privileged
- D.high
Why B: 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.
Variation 2. An administrator wants to enforce that all pods in namespace 'secured' must run with a seccomp profile set to 'RuntimeDefault' at the container level. Which Pod Security Admission policy standard achieves this?
hard- A.Set the namespace label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=privileged'
- B.Set the namespace label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline'
- ✓ C.Set the namespace label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=restricted'
- D.Set the namespace label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=seccomp'
Why C: The 'restricted' Pod Security Admission (PSA) policy standard enforces the most stringent security controls, including requiring that pods use a seccomp profile set to 'RuntimeDefault' at the container level. This is defined in the Kubernetes Pod Security Standards documentation, where the restricted profile mandates 'seccomp: RuntimeDefault' as a baseline requirement. Therefore, option C is correct because it directly matches the policy that enforces this specific seccomp constraint.
Variation 3. An administrator wants to enforce that all Pods in a namespace run with a read-only root filesystem. Which admission controller should be configured?
medium- A.LimitRange
- B.ResourceQuota
- C.MutatingAdmissionWebhook
- ✓ D.Pod Security Admission (PSA)
Why D: Pod Security Admission (PSA) is the correct choice because it enforces Pod Security Standards (PSS) at the namespace level, including the `Restricted` profile which mandates a read-only root filesystem (`readOnlyRootFilesystem: true`). PSA is a built-in admission controller that evaluates pod specifications against predefined security policies and rejects pods that violate them, making it the appropriate tool for this requirement.
Variation 4. Which annotation is used to enforce Pod Security Admission at the 'restricted' level on a namespace?
medium- ✓ A.pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce: restricted
- B.pod-security.kubernetes.io/warn: restricted
- C.pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce: baseline
- D.pod-security.kubernetes.io/audit: restricted
Why A: The `pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce` annotation enforces Pod Security Standards (PSS) at the namespace level, and setting it to `restricted` blocks any pod that violates the most stringent set of security controls (e.g., running as root, privileged containers). This is the only annotation that actively prevents non-compliant pods from being created, rather than just warning or logging violations.
Variation 5. You apply a Pod Security Admission label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce: restricted' to a namespace. A pod with the following securityContext is created: securityContext: runAsUser: 1000 runAsNonRoot: true capabilities: drop: ["ALL"] seccompProfile: type: RuntimeDefault allowPrivilegeEscalation: false readOnlyRootFilesystem: true Will the pod be admitted?
hard- ✓ A.Yes, the pod satisfies all restricted profile requirements
- B.No, because runAsUser must not be set
- C.No, because seccompProfile type must be 'Localhost'
- D.No, because the pod must not set capabilities at all
Why A: The Pod Security Admission (PSA) restricted profile requires that pods drop all capabilities, set `runAsNonRoot: true`, set `seccompProfile.type` to `RuntimeDefault` or `Localhost`, set `allowPrivilegeEscalation: false`, and restrict `runAsUser` to a non-root user (which is satisfied by `runAsUser: 1000`). The provided pod meets all these requirements, so it will be admitted. The `runAsUser` field is allowed as long as the user ID is not 0 (root), and the `seccompProfile.type` is correctly set to `RuntimeDefault`, which is one of the permitted values.
Variation 6. You want to apply a Pod Security Admission (PSA) policy that enforces the 'restricted' profile in the 'dev' namespace, but only for Pods that are not exempt. Which TWO steps are required? (Select TWO)
hard- ✓ A.Set the label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=restricted' on the namespace
- B.Add a 'securityContext' field to the Pod template with 'runAsUser: 1000'
- C.Set the label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline' on the namespace
- D.Set the label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/warn=restricted' on the namespace
- ✓ E.Configure Pods to meet the restricted profile requirements, such as setting runAsNonRoot and seccompProfile
Why A: Setting the label 'pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=restricted' on the namespace instructs the Pod Security Admission controller to reject any Pod that does not meet the restricted profile, unless the Pod is exempt (e.g., system-critical Pods or those with specific exemptions). This label directly enforces the policy at admission time, ensuring only compliant Pods are created in the 'dev' namespace.
Variation 7. A PodSecurityPolicy (PSP) has been replaced by Pod Security Admission. Which of the following commands applies a baseline pod security standard to the namespace 'dev'?
medium- A.kubectl label ns dev pod-security.kubernetes.io/warn=baseline
- B.kubectl label ns dev pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=privileged
- C.kubectl label ns dev pod-security.kubernetes.io/audit=baseline
- ✓ D.kubectl label ns dev pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline
Why D: Pod Security Admission uses labels on namespaces to enforce pod security standards. The label `pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=baseline` applies the baseline standard, which prevents known privilege escalations while allowing the default minimal pod configuration. This replaces the deprecated PodSecurityPolicy (PSP) with a built-in admission controller.
Variation 8. Which THREE of the following are characteristics of Pod Security Admission (PSA) standards? (Select three.)
hard- ✓ A.PSA can be configured to warn or audit violations without blocking
- ✓ B.There are three predefined security levels: privileged, baseline, restricted
- C.PSA requires Open Policy Agent (OPA) Gatekeeper to function
- ✓ D.A namespace can be labeled to enforce a security level for all pods in that namespace
- E.PSA is a CustomResourceDefinition (CRD) that must be installed separately
Why A: Pod Security Admission (PSA) supports three modes: enforce (blocks violations), audit (logs violations in audit logs), and warn (returns a warning to the user). This allows administrators to test or monitor PSA policies without immediately blocking pod creation, which is critical for gradual adoption.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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