CKS Monitoring, Logging and Runtime Security Practice Question
An audit policy is configured with the following rule: - level: Metadata resources: - group: "" resources: ["secrets"] What does this rule log for requests to the Secrets API?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is assuming Metadata logs bodies or that secrets are automatically excluded — candidates must remember Metadata explicitly omits request and response bodies while still recording access metadata.
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
✓
Metadata about the request, excluding the body
The Metadata audit level logs request metadata — such as the user, timestamp, verb, resource, and namespace — but deliberately excludes the request and response bodies. This is precisely why Metadata is commonly applied to Secrets: it records who accessed which secret and when, without writing the secret contents into audit logs. The rule shown therefore produces metadata-only entries for Secrets API requests.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The full request and response body
Why it's wrong here
The RequestResponse audit level records both the full request body and the full response body, making it the most verbose level. Since the configured rule uses Metadata level, it deliberately avoids capturing any body payloads, so expecting full request and response bodies would be incorrect.
- ✓
Metadata about the request, excluding the body
Why this is correct
The Metadata audit level captures the request's metadata, such as the user, timestamp, resource, and verb, while explicitly excluding the request and response body. This gives a high-level audit trail without exposing sensitive payload data. In the rule, the level field set to Metadata makes this the exact outcome.
- ✗
Nothing, because secrets are excluded by default
Why it's wrong here
Kubernetes audit policies do not exclude secrets by default; secrets are just another resource type and will be logged if the policy matches them. The audit policy in question explicitly includes secrets in its rule, so the log would contain the event. Therefore, the claim that nothing is logged due to a default secret exclusion is false.
- ✗
The request body only
Why it's wrong here
The Request audit level logs the request body along with request metadata, but not the response body. The rule in question is set to Metadata, which is less verbose and omits the request body as well. Thus, while the Request level would log the body, Metadata level does not.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CNCF exam blueprint
This CKS 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 CKS exam.