STIGUI
V-242418CAT II — Medium severitySV-242418r1043178_rule

The Kubernetes API server must use approved cipher suites.

Rule version CNTR-K8-001400 · STIG v2 · 2026-02-12

Discussion

The Kubernetes API server communicates to the kubelet service on the nodes to deploy, update, and delete resources. If an attacker were able to get between this communication and modify the request, the Kubernetes cluster could be compromised. Using approved cypher suites for the communication ensures the protection of the transmitted information, confidentiality, and integrity so that the attacker cannot read or alter this communication.

Check

Change to the /etc/kubernetes/manifests/ directory on the Kubernetes Control Plane. Run the command: grep -i tls-cipher-suites *

If the setting feature tls-cipher-suites is not set in the Kubernetes API server manifest file or contains no value or does not contain TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384, this is a finding.

Fix

Edit the Kubernetes API Server manifest file in the /etc/kubernetes/manifests directory on the Kubernetes Control Plane.

Set the value of "--tls-cipher-suites" to: "TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256,TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384,TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384"

Identifiers

Group ID
V-242418
Group title
SRG-APP-000219-CTR-000550
Rule ID
SV-242418r1043178_rule
Check ID
C-45693r863842_chk
Fix ID
F-45651r927105_fix