KCSA Platform Security Practice Question
When configuring a container to run securely in a Kubernetes cluster, you want to ensure that the container process cannot gain any new privileges during its lifecycle, even if it runs as root or exploits a setuid binary. Which Linux kernel feature should be enabled in the container security context?
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
✓
allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
The 'allowPrivilegeEscalation' field in the security context controls whether a process can gain more privileges than its parent, which maps directly to the Linux PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS kernel flag.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
readOnlyRootFilesystem: false
Why it's wrong here
This setting allows the container's root filesystem to be writable, which is unrelated to privilege escalation flags.
- ✓
allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
Why this is correct
Setting allowPrivilegeEscalation to false ensures that child processes cannot gain more privileges than their parent process.
- ✗
privileged: true
Why it's wrong here
Enabling privileged mode grants the container almost all host capabilities and disables security mechanisms.
- ✗
runAsNonRoot: false
Why it's wrong here
Setting runAsNonRoot to false allows the container to run as the root user, which does not prevent privilege escalation.
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every KCSA question from scratch — 320 in total, each with an explanation and a wrong-answer breakdown. None are copied from real exams or dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
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
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.