CCSP Cloud Platform and Infrastructure Security Practice Question
A DevOps engineer is configuring a Kubernetes cluster and wants to enforce that containers cannot run as root and cannot mount host paths. Which Kubernetes security mechanism should be used?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse admission-time pod security controls with runtime network or identity controls — candidates often pick Network Policies or RBAC because they sound like 'security,' but only PSA inspects the pod spec's securityContext and volume definitions.
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 Admission
Pod Security Admission (PSA) is the built-in Kubernetes admission controller that enforces Pod Security Standards (Privileged, Baseline, Restricted) at the namespace level. The Restricted profile specifically prohibits running as root (via runAsNonRoot and allowPrivilegeEscalation: false) and blocks hostPath volume mounts, which is exactly what the engineer needs. It replaced the deprecated PodSecurityPolicy and is applied via namespace labels like pod-security.kubernetes.io/enforce=restricted.
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 Admission
Why this is correct
Pod Security Admission enforces Pod Security Standards at the namespace level, with the restricted profile rejecting pods that run as root or mount host paths. This declaratively satisfies both constraints the DevOps engineer needs to enforce.
- ✗
Network policies
Why it's wrong here
Network policies are layer 3/4 pod-level firewall rules governing ingress and egress between workloads; they cannot constrain user IDs or volume mounts. They are tempting because they are the primary Kubernetes workload-isolation control, and would be correct for restricting which pods may communicate with a database.
- ✗
RBAC
Why it's wrong here
RBAC governs which users or service accounts may perform API actions, not what a container's process may do once admitted. It cannot block root execution or hostPath mounts. RBAC is the right choice for restricting who can create pods or read secrets, not for constraining pod security context.
- ✗
Secrets management
Why it's wrong here
Secrets management stores and injects sensitive values such as credentials or tokens; it does not evaluate pod specifications. It cannot forbid root users or host path mounts. It would be correct when the requirement is protecting database passwords or API keys from plaintext exposure in manifests.
Visual reference
About these practice questions
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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 ISC2 exam blueprint
This CCSP practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 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 CCSP exam.