Guide to the Secure Configuration of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

with profile CIS Red Hat Openshift Virtual Machine Extension Benchmark (Node)
This profile defines a baseline that aligns to the Center for Internet Security® Red Hat OpenShift Virtual Machine Extension Benchmark™, V1.0.0. This profile includes Center for Internet Security® Red Hat OpenShift Virtual Machine Extension Benchmarks™ content. Note that this part of the profile is meant to run on the Operating System that Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 runs on top of, covering the benchmark's node-level controls (host file permissions, kernel and CPU configuration). The platform-level controls are covered by the companion cis-vm-extension profile.
This guide presents a catalog of security-relevant configuration settings for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4. It is a rendering of content structured in the eXtensible Configuration Checklist Description Format (XCCDF) in order to support security automation. The SCAP content is is available in the scap-security-guide package which is developed at https://www.open-scap.org/security-policies/scap-security-guide.

Providing system administrators with such guidance informs them how to securely configure systems under their control in a variety of network roles. Policy makers and baseline creators can use this catalog of settings, with its associated references to higher-level security control catalogs, in order to assist them in security baseline creation. This guide is a catalog, not a checklist, and satisfaction of every item is not likely to be possible or sensible in many operational scenarios. However, the XCCDF format enables granular selection and adjustment of settings, and their association with OVAL and OCIL content provides an automated checking capability. Transformations of this document, and its associated automated checking content, are capable of providing baselines that meet a diverse set of policy objectives. Some example XCCDF Profiles, which are selections of items that form checklists and can be used as baselines, are available with this guide. They can be processed, in an automated fashion, with tools that support the Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP). The NIST National Checklist Program (NCP), which provides required settings for the United States Government, is one example of a baseline created from this guidance.
Do not attempt to implement any of the settings in this guide without first testing them in a non-operational environment. The creators of this guidance assume no responsibility whatsoever for its use by other parties, and makes no guarantees, expressed or implied, about its quality, reliability, or any other characteristic.

Profile Information

Profile TitleCIS Red Hat Openshift Virtual Machine Extension Benchmark (Node)
Profile IDxccdf_org.ssgproject.content_profile_cis-vm-extension-node

CPE Platforms

  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_node_on_ovn:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_node_on_sdn:4
  • cpe:/o:redhat:openshift_container_platform_node:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_on_aws:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_on_azure:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_on_gcp:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_on_ovn:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform_on_sdn:4
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.10
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.11
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.12
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.13
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.14
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.15
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.16
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.17
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.18
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.19
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.20
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.21
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.22
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.23
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.24
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.6
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.7
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.8
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.9
  • cpe:/a:redhat:openshift_container_platform:4.1

Revision History

Current version: 0.1.83

  • draft (as of 2026-08-27)

Table of Contents

  1. OpenShift Virtualization

Checklist

Group   Guide to the Secure Configuration of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4   Group contains 1 group and 5 rules
Group   OpenShift Virtualization   Group contains 5 rules
[ref]   This section contains security recommendations for OpenShift Virtualization (KubeVirt) configuration and virtual machine management.

Rule   Ensure kubevirt cache directory permission is set to 755 or more restrictive   [ref]

To properly set the permissions of /var/run/kubevirt-private/, run the command:
$ sudo chmod 0755 /var/run/kubevirt-private/
Rationale:
Setting the kubevirt private directory to 755 or more restrictive limits access to security related administrative functionality to approved administrators.
Severity: 
medium
Rule ID:xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_kubevirt-cache-directory-permissions
References:
stigidCNTR-OS-000090
stigrefSV-257513r1015793_rule
stigref_vulnerability_idV-257513

Rule   Ensure All CPU Vulnerabilities Are Mitigated   [ref]

The Linux kernel exposes the mitigation status of known CPU hardware vulnerabilities via sysfs files under /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/. Each file reports whether the running kernel has applied mitigations for a specific vulnerability (e.g., Spectre, Meltdown, MDS, Retbleed). None of these files should report a status beginning with Vulnerable.
Rationale:
Unmitigated CPU vulnerabilities expose the host to speculative execution attacks that can leak sensitive data across security boundaries. In a virtualization environment, this risk is amplified because a compromised guest may exploit hardware vulnerabilities to read memory from other guests or the hypervisor. Ensuring that all known CPU vulnerabilities are mitigated reduces the attack surface of the virtualization host.
Severity: 
medium
Rule ID:xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_kubevirt-cpu-vulnerabilities-mitigated

Rule   Nested Virtualization Must Be Disabled on Virtualization Hosts   [ref]

Nested virtualization allows a virtual machine to itself act as a hypervisor. It is controlled by the nested parameter of the kvm_intel or kvm_amd kernel module, visible at /sys/module/kvm_intel/parameters/nested (or kvm_amd respectively). The value must be N or 0. Nodes where the KVM modules are not loaded do not expose the parameter, which is compliant.
Rationale:
Nested virtualization exposes additional virtualization interfaces to guest workloads, widening the attack surface of the hypervisor stack and enabling a compromised guest to host further, harder-to-observe virtual machines.
Severity: 
medium
Rule ID:xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_kubevirt-nested-virtualization-disabled
References:
stigidCNTR-OS-000090
stigrefSV-257513r1015793_rule
stigref_vulnerability_idV-257513

Rule   Ensure kubevirt seccomp profile file permission is set to 700 or more restrictive   [ref]

To properly set the permissions of /var/lib/kubelet/seccomp/kubevirt/kubevirt.json, run the command:
$ sudo chmod 0700 /var/lib/kubelet/seccomp/kubevirt/kubevirt.json
Rationale:
This configuration ensures that only authorized users have access to modify the seccomp profile, thereby preventing unauthorized alterations to the allowed system calls for virt-launcher pods. By enforcing stringent permission controls, potential security risks associated with unrestricted access to sensitive system calls can be mitigated.
Severity: 
medium
Rule ID:xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_kubevirt-seccomp-profile-permissions
References:
stigidCNTR-OS-000090
stigrefSV-257513r1015793_rule
stigref_vulnerability_idV-257513

Rule   Ensure vCPU metrics are enabled   [ref]

OpenShift Virtualization provides metrics that you can use to monitor the consumption of cluster infrastructure resources, including virtual CPU (vCPU). In order to use the vCPU metric, the schedstats=enable kernel argument must be applied.
Rationale:
Metrics are a fundamental mechanism for understanding if the guest is behaving in an anomalous or otherwise suspicious manner.
Severity: 
medium
Rule ID:xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_kubevirt-vcpu-metrics-enabled

Complexity:low
Disruption:medium
Reboot:true
Strategy:restrict

apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
spec:
  config:
    ignition:
      version: 3.1.0
  kernelArguments:
    - schedstats=enable
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