KCSA Kubernetes Security Fundamentals Practice Question

A security engineer configures a ValidatingWebhookConfiguration to intercept pod creations. The webhook service goes down due to a network partition. What happens to incoming pod creation requests by default if the webhook 'failurePolicy' is set to 'Fail'?

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

✓

The API server rejects the pod creation request with an error.

When failurePolicy is set to 'Fail', if the webhook encounters an error or is unreachable, the API server rejects the request.

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 kubelet automatically bypasses the webhook and starts the container locally.
Why it's wrong here
Kubelet only receives pods after the API server successfully admits and persists them.
✗
The API server allows the pod creation request and logs a warning.
Why it's wrong here
That behavior occurs when the failurePolicy is set to 'Ignore'.
✓
The API server rejects the pod creation request with an error.
Why this is correct
A 'Fail' policy treats webhook unavailability as a validation failure, blocking the request.
✗
The API server queues the request until the webhook service recovers.
Why it's wrong here
Kubernetes does not queue requests awaiting webhook recovery; it immediately enforces the failurePolicy.

About these practice questions

This KCSA question is part of Courseiva's 320-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →

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Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security

Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva

Last reviewed August 2026 · checked against the official CNCF / Linux Foundation exam blueprint

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This KCSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free CNCF / Linux Foundation 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 KCSA exam.