KCSA Kubernetes Security Fundamentals Practice Question
You need to grant a monitoring tool permission to perform HTTP GET requests against health endpoints across all pods in the cluster, but no other API access. How should you define the RBAC rules?
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
✓
Create a ClusterRole with verbs ['get'] and nonResourceURLs ['/healthz', '/readyz'].
Non-resource URLs like '/healthz' or pod subresources like '/pods/{name}/proxy' are specified using 'nonResourceURLs' or subresource permissions in rules.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Assign the tool to the system:masters group.
Why it's wrong here
system:masters bypasses all RBAC authorization checks entirely.
- ✗
Grant cluster-admin access and restrict requests using a kube-proxy firewall rule.
Why it's wrong here
cluster-admin grants full control and violates least privilege.
- ✗
Create a ClusterRole with API groups [''] and resources ['pods/status'].
Why it's wrong here
pods/status allows reading or updating pod status conditions, not arbitrary HTTP health endpoints on pods.
- ✓
Create a ClusterRole with verbs ['get'] and nonResourceURLs ['/healthz', '/readyz'].
Why this is correct
Non-resource URLs grant access to cluster endpoints that do not correspond to API resource objects.
Quick reference
Access Control Model Comparison
| Model | Acronym | Who Controls Access? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Access Control | DAC | Resource owner | Small teams, file shares |
| Mandatory Access Control | MAC | System / security labels | Classified govt / military |
| Role-Based Access Control | RBAC | Administrator (via roles) | Enterprise environments |
| Attribute-Based Access Control | ABAC | Policy engine (user + resource attributes) | Fine-grained, dynamic policies |
| Rule-Based Access Control | RuBAC | System rules / ACLs | Firewall rules, network ACLs |
About these practice questions
Courseiva writes every KCSA question from scratch — 319 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.