Kubernetes Integration

ggscout supports integration with Kubernetes clusters to collect secrets and gather information about various Kubernetes resources. This integration provides comprehensive visibility into both sensitive data and resource configurations within your clusters.

Supported Features

• Multiple resource types: Secrets, ConfigMaps, Deployments, Service Accounts, and External Secrets
• Comprehensive data collection: Collects both secrets and general resource information
• Namespace filtering: Target specific namespaces using glob patterns
• Multiple authentication methods: KubeConfig file or in-cluster authentication
• Multi-cluster support: Monitor multiple Kubernetes clusters simultaneously
• Resource filtering: Fine-grained control over which resources to scan

info

The Kubernetes integration is read-only and does not support writing secrets back to the cluster.

Supported Resource Types

ggscout can scan the following Kubernetes API resources:

Resource Type	Description
Secrets	Native Kubernetes Secret resources
ConfigMaps	Configuration data stored in the cluster
Deployments	Application deployment configurations
Service Accounts	Kubernetes service account configurations
External Secrets	External Secrets Operator resources

Configuration

To configure ggscout to work with Kubernetes, add the following configuration to your ggscout.toml file:

KubeConfig File Authentication

For external access to Kubernetes clusters using a kubeconfig file:

[sources.k8s-production]
type = "kubernetes"
config_source = "kubeconfigfile"
kubeconfig_path = "/path/to/kubeconfig"  # Optional, defaults to ~/.kube/config
contexts = ["production-cluster", "staging-cluster"]  # Optional, all contexts if not specified
namespaces = ["default", "production-*", "app-*"]  # Optional, all namespaces if not specified
env = "production"

In-Cluster Authentication

For ggscout running inside a Kubernetes cluster:

[sources.k8s-cluster]
type = "kubernetes"
config_source = "incluster"
name = "production-cluster"  # Cluster name (required for in-cluster mode)
namespaces = ["default", "production-*"]  # Optional namespace filtering
env = "production"

Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default Value
type	Must be set to "kubernetes"	Yes
config_source	Authentication method: "kubeconfigfile" or "incluster"	Yes
namespaces	List of namespace patterns to scan	No
env	Environment identifier	No
mode	Integration mode (only "read" is supported for Kubernetes)	No	"read"

KubeConfig File Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default Value
kubeconfig_path	Path to kubeconfig file	No	~/.kube/config
contexts	List of contexts to use from kubeconfig	No

In-Cluster Parameters

Parameter	Description	Required	Default Value
name	Name of the Kubernetes cluster	Yes

Authentication Setup

Both authentication methods require the same RBAC permissions. You'll need to create a ClusterRole and bind it appropriately based on your chosen authentication method.

Required RBAC Permissions

Create the following ClusterRole that grants read access to all required Kubernetes resources:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: ggscout-reader
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["secrets", "configmaps", "serviceaccounts"]
  verbs: ["get", "list"]
- apiGroups: ["apps"]
  resources: ["deployments"]
  verbs: ["get", "list"]
- apiGroups: ["external-secrets.io"]
  resources: ["externalsecrets"]
  verbs: ["get", "list"]

Setting Up Authentication

Authentication Setup Steps

1. Create service account and bind permissions:

# Create service account
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: ggscout-service-account
  namespace: ggscout
---
# Bind ClusterRole to service account
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: ggscout-reader-binding
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: ggscout-reader
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: ggscout-service-account
  namespace: ggscout

2. Deploy ggscout with the service account:

spec:
  serviceAccountName: ggscout-service-account

3. Method-specific setup:
   • For KubeConfig File Method: Ensure ggscout can access your kubeconfig file and verify cluster connectivity with kubectl cluster-info
   • For In-Cluster Method: No additional setup required beyond the service account configuration

Also refer to our public GitHub Helm charts repository.

Namespace Filtering

Use glob patterns to control which namespaces ggscout scans:

# Scan specific namespaces
namespaces = ["production", "staging", "development"]

# Use wildcards (only at the end) to match patterns
namespaces = ["app-*", "service-*"]

# Combine exact matches and patterns
namespaces = ["default", "kube-system", "production-*"]

Resource Filtering

Control which specific resources are scanned using include/exclude filters:

[sources.k8s-filtered]
type = "kubernetes"
config_source = "incluster"
name = "production-cluster"

# Include filters - only scan these resources
[[sources.k8s-filtered.include]]
resource_ids = ["secret:*", "configmap:*"]

# Exclude filters - skip these resources
[[sources.k8s-filtered.exclude]]
resource_ids = ["secret:kube-system/*"]

Multi-Cluster Configuration

Monitor multiple Kubernetes clusters by defining multiple sources:

[sources.k8s-production]
type = "kubernetes"
config_source = "kubeconfigfile"
contexts = ["production"]
env = "production"

[sources.k8s-staging]
type = "kubernetes"
config_source = "kubeconfigfile"
contexts = ["staging"]
env = "staging"

[sources.k8s-development]
type = "kubernetes"
config_source = "incluster"
name = "dev-cluster"
env = "development"

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Authentication Failures

• Verify kubeconfig file path and permissions
• Check RBAC permissions for the configured user/service account
• Ensure cluster connectivity

Missing Resources

• Confirm RBAC permissions include all required resource types
• Check namespace filtering configuration
• Verify resource filtering rules

Performance Issues

• Reduce scope with namespace filtering
• Use resource filtering to limit scanned resource types
• Consider cluster size and API rate limits