This CKS practice question tests your understanding of system hardening. 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.
Which TWO of the following are valid Pod Security Standard levels? (Select 2)
medium
Why wrong: 'medium' is not a level.
high
Why wrong: 'high' is not a Pod Security Standard level.
default
Why wrong: 'default' is not a level; the levels are privileged, baseline, and restricted.
privileged
Privileged is the most permissive level.
restricted
Restricted is the most restrictive level.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
privileged
Option D is correct because the Pod Security Standards (PSS) define three levels: privileged, baseline, and restricted. The privileged level is the most permissive, allowing known privilege escalations and is intended for system-level workloads that require unrestricted access to host resources. It is explicitly listed in the Kubernetes documentation as one of the three valid PSS levels.
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.
medium
Why it's wrong here
'medium' is not a level.
high
Why it's wrong here
'high' is not a Pod Security Standard level.
default
Why it's wrong here
'default' is not a level; the levels are privileged, baseline, and restricted.
privileged
Why this is correct
Privileged is the most permissive level.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
restricted
Why this is correct
Restricted is the most restrictive level.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
CNCF often tests the exact three Pod Security Standard levels (privileged, baseline, restricted) and expects candidates to recognize that 'medium', 'high', and 'default' are distractors that sound plausible but are not part of the official Kubernetes specification.
Detailed technical explanation
Pod Security Standards are enforced via Pod Security Admission (PSA) controllers, which replaced the deprecated PodSecurityPolicy (PSP) in Kubernetes v1.25. The three levels—privileged, baseline, and restricted—map to specific security contexts and allowed capabilities; for example, the restricted level disallows hostPath volumes, hostNetwork, and requires seccomp profiles. In practice, a cluster administrator might apply the baseline level to most namespaces and only use privileged for system-critical pods like CNI plugins or storage drivers.
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
System Hardening — This question tests System Hardening — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: privileged — Option D is correct because the Pod Security Standards (PSS) define three levels: privileged, baseline, and restricted. The privileged level is the most permissive, allowing known privilege escalations and is intended for system-level workloads that require unrestricted access to host resources. It is explicitly listed in the Kubernetes documentation as one of the three valid PSS levels.
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 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.
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