Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills/skills/implementing-rbac-hardening-for-kubernetes/references/api-reference.md

# API Reference: Kubernetes RBAC Hardening Audit

## Libraries Used

| Library | Purpose |
|---------|---------|
| `kubernetes` | Official Kubernetes Python client for RBAC API |
| `json` | Parse and format RBAC audit results |
| `yaml` | Read Kubernetes RBAC manifest files |

## Installation

```bash
pip install kubernetes pyyaml
```

## Authentication

```python
from kubernetes import client, config

# Local kubeconfig
config.load_kube_config()

# In-cluster
# config.load_incluster_config()

rbac_api = client.RbacAuthorizationV1Api()
core_api = client.CoreV1Api()
```

## RBAC API Methods

| Method | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `list_cluster_role()` | List all ClusterRoles |
| `list_cluster_role_binding()` | List all ClusterRoleBindings |
| `list_namespaced_role(namespace)` | List Roles in a namespace |
| `list_namespaced_role_binding(namespace)` | List RoleBindings in a namespace |
| `read_cluster_role(name)` | Get specific ClusterRole details |
| `read_cluster_role_binding(name)` | Get specific ClusterRoleBinding |

## Core Audit Operations

### Detect Wildcard Permissions
```python
def find_wildcard_permissions():
    """Find ClusterRoles with wildcard (*) verbs, resources, or apiGroups."""
    findings = []
    roles = rbac_api.list_cluster_role()
    for role in roles.items:
        if not role.rules:
            continue
        for rule in role.rules:
            wildcards = []
            if rule.verbs and "*" in rule.verbs:
                wildcards.append("verbs")
            if rule.resources and "*" in rule.resources:
                wildcards.append("resources")
            if rule.api_groups and "*" in rule.api_groups:
                wildcards.append("apiGroups")
            if wildcards:
                findings.append({
                    "role": role.metadata.name,
                    "wildcards": wildcards,
                    "severity": "critical" if len(wildcards) >= 2 else "high",
                })
    return findings
```

### Find Subjects Bound to cluster-admin
```python
def find_cluster_admin_bindings():
    """Identify all subjects with cluster-admin privileges."""
    bindings = rbac_api.list_cluster_role_binding()
    admin_subjects = []
    for binding in bindings.items:
        if binding.role_ref.name == "cluster-admin":
            for subject in binding.subjects or []:
                admin_subjects.append({
                    "binding": binding.metadata.name,
                    "subject_kind": subject.kind,
                    "subject_name": subject.name,
                    "namespace": subject.namespace or "cluster-wide",
                    "severity": "high",
                })
    return admin_subjects
```

### Detect Privilege Escalation Risks
```python
ESCALATION_VERBS = {"bind", "escalate", "impersonate"}
DANGEROUS_RESOURCES = {"secrets", "pods/exec", "serviceaccounts/token"}

def find_escalation_risks():
    findings = []
    roles = rbac_api.list_cluster_role()
    for role in roles.items:
        for rule in (role.rules or []):
            dangerous_verbs = set(rule.verbs or []) & ESCALATION_VERBS
            dangerous_resources = set(rule.resources or []) & DANGEROUS_RESOURCES
            if dangerous_verbs:
                findings.append({
                    "role": role.metadata.name,
                    "issue": f"Escalation verbs: {dangerous_verbs}",
                    "severity": "critical",
                })
            if dangerous_resources and "get" in (rule.verbs or []):
                findings.append({
                    "role": role.metadata.name,
                    "issue": f"Access to sensitive resources: {dangerous_resources}",
                    "severity": "high",
                })
    return findings
```

### Audit Service Account Token Auto-Mount
```python
def find_automount_service_tokens():
    """Find pods with automountServiceAccountToken enabled."""
    findings = []
    namespaces = core_api.list_namespace()
    for ns in namespaces.items:
        pods = core_api.list_namespaced_pod(ns.metadata.name)
        for pod in pods.items:
            automount = pod.spec.automount_service_account_token
            if automount is None or automount is True:
                sa = pod.spec.service_account_name or "default"
                if sa != "default":
                    findings.append({
                        "namespace": ns.metadata.name,
                        "pod": pod.metadata.name,
                        "service_account": sa,
                        "issue": "automountServiceAccountToken not disabled",
                    })
    return findings
```

### Find Unused Roles
```python
def find_unused_roles():
    """Detect Roles with no corresponding RoleBindings."""
    namespaces = core_api.list_namespace()
    unused = []
    for ns in namespaces.items:
        roles = rbac_api.list_namespaced_role(ns.metadata.name)
        bindings = rbac_api.list_namespaced_role_binding(ns.metadata.name)
        bound_roles = {b.role_ref.name for b in bindings.items}
        for role in roles.items:
            if role.metadata.name not in bound_roles:
                unused.append({
                    "namespace": ns.metadata.name,
                    "role": role.metadata.name,
                    "issue": "Role has no bindings — candidate for removal",
                })
    return unused
```

## kubectl Equivalents

```bash
# List all ClusterRoleBindings for cluster-admin
kubectl get clusterrolebindings -o json | \
  jq '.items[] | select(.roleRef.name=="cluster-admin") | .subjects[]'

# Find roles with wildcard permissions
kubectl get clusterroles -o json | \
  jq '.items[] | select(.rules[]?.verbs[]? == "*") | .metadata.name'

# Audit RBAC with rakkess (kubectl plugin)
kubectl krew install access-matrix
kubectl access-matrix --namespace production
```

## Output Format

```json
{
  "cluster": "production",
  "audit_date": "2025-01-15",
  "cluster_admin_subjects": 5,
  "wildcard_roles": 3,
  "escalation_risks": 2,
  "unused_roles": 8,
  "findings": [
    {
      "role": "custom-admin",
      "issue": "Wildcard verbs and resources",
      "severity": "critical",
      "remediation": "Replace * with explicit verb and resource lists"
    }
  ]
}
```