This CKS practice question tests your understanding of cluster hardening. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 security team wants to ensure that all pods in a namespace run with a restricted seccomp profile. Which Pod Security Standard admission controller mode should be used to enforce this without blocking necessary pods?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Enable the PodSecurity admission plugin with the 'restricted' policy and 'enforce' mode
The Pod Security Standards (PSS) define three policies: privileged, baseline, and restricted. The restricted policy enforces the most stringent security controls, including requiring a seccomp profile to be set to 'RuntimeDefault' or 'localhost/*'. Using the PodSecurity admission plugin with 'enforce' mode ensures that any pod failing the restricted policy is immediately rejected, guaranteeing that only compliant pods run in the namespace.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✓
Enable the PodSecurity admission plugin with the 'restricted' policy and 'enforce' mode
Why this is correct
'enforce' blocks non-compliant pods, and 'restricted' requires seccomp.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use a mutating admission webhook to automatically add seccomp profiles
Why it's wrong here
This does not enforce the policy; it only mutates.
✗
Enable the PodSecurity admission plugin with the 'baseline' policy and 'enforce' mode
Why it's wrong here
'baseline' does not require a restricted seccomp profile.
✗
Enable the PodSecurity admission plugin with the 'restricted' policy and 'warn' mode
Why it's wrong here
'warn' only logs violations, does not block pods.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
CNCF often tests the distinction between 'enforce' and 'warn' modes: candidates mistakenly choose 'warn' thinking it is sufficient, but 'enforce' is required to actually block non-compliant pods.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
The PodSecurity admission plugin evaluates pods against the selected policy at creation time. The restricted policy requires `securityContext.seccompProfile.type` to be set to `RuntimeDefault` or `localhost/<path>`. In Kubernetes 1.25+, the PodSecurity feature gate is enabled by default, and the `PodSecurity` admission plugin replaces the deprecated `PodSecurityPolicy`. A real-world scenario where this matters is in multi-tenant clusters where a single namespace must enforce seccomp to mitigate container breakout vulnerabilities like CVE-2022-0185.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this CKS question in full detail.
Cluster Hardening — This question tests Cluster Hardening — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Enable the PodSecurity admission plugin with the 'restricted' policy and 'enforce' mode — The Pod Security Standards (PSS) define three policies: privileged, baseline, and restricted. The restricted policy enforces the most stringent security controls, including requiring a seccomp profile to be set to 'RuntimeDefault' or 'localhost/*'. Using the PodSecurity admission plugin with 'enforce' mode ensures that any pod failing the restricted policy is immediately rejected, guaranteeing that only compliant pods run in the namespace.
What should I do if I get this CKS question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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