CV0-004 Security Practice Question
A cloud engineer is deploying a containerized application on Kubernetes. The security team requires that containers run with reduced privileges and that certain capabilities are dropped. Which Kubernetes feature should be used to enforce these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is confusing Pod Security Standards with other Kubernetes features like Network Policies or RBAC; candidates might think Network Policies control container privileges, but they only control network traffic.
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
✓
Pod Security Standards
Pod Security Standards (PSS) define three levels (Privileged, Baseline, Restricted) that enforce security controls, including running containers with reduced privileges and dropping capabilities. The Restricted policy specifically requires dropping all capabilities and running as non-root, among other restrictions. Therefore, PSS is the correct feature to enforce these requirements.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Pod Security Standards
Why this is correct
Pod Security Standards define the Privileged, Baseline and Restricted profiles, with Restricted enforcing reduced privileges and dropped capabilities such as NET_RAW. Applying these via namespace labels or admission control satisfies the security team's container hardening requirement.
- ✗
Network policies
Why it's wrong here
Network policies control ingress and egress traffic between pods and namespaces at layers 3 and 4, and they cannot restrict Linux capabilities or user IDs inside a container. It is tempting because they are a core Kubernetes security control, but they would be the correct choice for segmenting pod-to-pod communication.
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ConfigMap
Why it's wrong here
ConfigMaps store non-confidential configuration data as key-value pairs for injection into pods, and they cannot set securityContext fields such as runAsNonRoot or dropped capabilities. It is tempting because ConfigMaps do shape container behaviour at runtime, but they would be the correct choice for supplying environment variables or configuration files.
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Horizontal Pod Autoscaler
Why it's wrong here
The Horizontal Pod Autoscaler adjusts replica counts based on observed metrics such as CPU utilisation, and it has no mechanism to alter a container's privilege level or capability set. It is tempting because it is a workload-management feature, but it would be the correct choice for scaling pods automatically under changing load.
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JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official CompTIA exam blueprint
This CV0-004 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA 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 CV0-004 exam.