Details
Kubernetes supports mounting secrets as data volumes or as environment variables. Minimize the use of environment variable secrets.
Rationale:
It is reasonably common for application code to log out its environment (particularly in the event of an error). This will include any secret values passed in as environment variables, so secrets can easily be exposed to any user or entity who has access to the logs.
Impact:
Application code which expects to read secrets in the form of environment variables would need modification
Solution
If possible, rewrite application code to read secrets from mounted secret files, rather than from environment variables.
Default Value:
By default, secrets are not defined
Supportive Information
The following resource is also helpful.
This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: System and Communications Protection.This control applies to the following type of system Unix.