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CKS · domain

Supply Chain Security

Practise Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist CKS Supply Chain Security practice questions — original exam-style scenarios with answer choices, explanations, and analysis of common mistakes.

21 questions5 easy10 medium6 hard

Focused practice

Practice Supply Chain Security questions

Scored sessions drawing only from this domain — pick a length below.

What this domain covers

What to know about Supply Chain Security

Supply Chain Security questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.

How the topic appears in realistic exam-style scenarios.

Which detail in the question changes the correct answer.

How to eliminate plausible but wrong options.

How to connect the question back to the wider exam objective.

Watch out for

Common Supply Chain Security exam traps

  • Answering from memory before reading the full scenario.
  • Missing a constraint such as cost, availability, security, scope or command context.
  • Choosing a broad answer when the question asks for the most specific fix.
  • Ignoring why the wrong options are tempting.

Question index

All Supply Chain Security questions (21)

Click any question to see the full explanation, or start a practice session above.

1

Which tool can be used to generate an SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) for a container image?

Easy
2

Which of the following is a static analysis tool for Kubernetes manifests that can be used to find misconfigurations?

Medium
3

You are implementing supply chain security for container images. Which tool would you use to scan a local directory of Dockerfiles and Kubernetes manifests for known vulnerabilities?

Medium
4

A development team uses a custom container image for their application, built from a base image that includes multiple CVEs. The security team requires that no container runs with known critical vulnerabilities. Which approach best ensures that only images with no critical vulnerabilities are deployed in production?

Medium
5

An administrator runs 'kubectl describe pod secure-pod' and sees that the pod is in a Pending state with the event 'Error: ImagePullBackOff' and the message 'unauthorized: authentication required'. The image is stored in a private registry. What is the most likely cause?

Hard
6

A security admin runs 'trivy image --severity CRITICAL,HIGH myrepo/myapp:latest' and sees many CVEs. The admin wants to ensure that only images with no CRITICAL or HIGH severity vulnerabilities are deployed to the cluster. Which admission controller should be configured to enforce this policy?

Medium
7

A DevOps team uses a CI/CD pipeline to build container images and push them to a private registry. To minimize the risk of supply chain attacks, which of the following is the most effective security control to implement?

Easy
8

Which of the following is a best practice for securing container images?

Medium
9

Which of the following is a best practice when writing a Dockerfile for a containerized application?

Easy
10

You are a security engineer at a fintech startup. The company runs a Kubernetes cluster in production with hundreds of microservices. Recently, a container image from a public registry was compromised, and the attacker injected a backdoor that exfiltrated customer data. The CISO mandates that all images must come from an internal registry that only stores approved, scanned, and signed images. Currently, developers build images locally and push them to Docker Hub, then reference those images in Kubernetes manifests. You have deployed Harbor as a private registry with vulnerability scanning and Cosign for signing. However, you notice that some pods are still running images directly from Docker Hub. You need to enforce that only images from your internal Harbor registry can be used in the cluster. You cannot change the Kubernetes manifests immediately because of a large backlog. You have access to the cluster's kubelet configuration and can modify cluster-level components. Which single action will most effectively block any pod that tries to use an image not hosted on your internal registry?

Hard
11

A DevOps engineer wants to enforce that all container images running in the cluster are signed using Cosign. Which Kubernetes admission controller is designed for this purpose?

Medium
12

Which static analysis tool is specifically designed to evaluate Kubernetes manifests against security best practices?

Medium
13

You are asked to generate an SBOM for a container image and attach it as an attestation using cosign. Which two commands would you run in sequence?

Hard
14

A pod is running in a namespace that has a Kyverno policy requiring all images to come from a trusted registry. The pod is using an image from an untrusted registry. What will happen when the pod is created?

Medium
15

You are configuring ImagePolicyWebhook admission controller to reject images not signed by a trusted authority. After deploying the webhook, you notice that pods are being rejected even for images that are properly signed. Which configuration change is MOST likely to fix this?

Hard
16

A Kyverno policy is written to require all images to use SHA256 digests instead of tags. The policy uses a 'validate' rule with 'pattern' on 'spec.containers[*].image'. Which pattern would match an image reference like 'registry.example.com/myapp@sha256:abc123...'?

Hard
17

In a CI/CD pipeline, which step is MOST effective for detecting known vulnerabilities in a container image before deployment?

Easy
18

You are tasked with ensuring that all container images in your cluster are scanned for vulnerabilities before being deployed. You have set up Trivy in your CI/CD pipeline and want to enforce that only images with no critical vulnerabilities are allowed. Which admission controller should you configure to reject pods using non-compliant images?

Medium
19

A cluster has both ImagePolicyWebhook and a mutating webhook that adds a sidecar. The admin notices that even when ImagePolicyWebhook rejects an image, the mutating webhook has already added the sidecar. What admission ordering issue is occurring?

Hard
20

Which of the following is a best practice for securing container images?

Easy
21

Which TWO of the following tools can generate an SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) for a container image?

Medium

Frequently asked questions

What does the Supply Chain Security domain cover on the CKS exam?
Supply Chain Security questions test whether you can apply the concept in context, not just recognise a definition.
How many questions are in this domain?
This page lists all 21 Supply Chain Security questions in the CKS question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
What is the best way to practise this domain?
Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
Can I practise only Supply Chain Security questions?
Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.
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