Kubescape

Kubescape addresses the critical security and compliance challenges in Kubernetes environments by providing a comprehensive security platform that spans the entire development and deployment lifecycle. The core challenge it tackles is the identification and remediation of misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and compliance issues from the earliest stages of development to runtime.

Technically, Kubescape leverages Open Policy Agent (OPA) to verify Kubernetes objects against a library of posture controls written in Rego. This allows for the scanning of Kubernetes resources retrieved from the API server, ensuring adherence to various security frameworks such as NSA, MITRE, and SOC2. The tool integrates with popular IDEs like VSCode and Lens, as well as CI/CD platforms like GitHub and GitLab, enabling shift-left security practices. It also supports YAML and Helm chart validation without requiring an active cluster, and it can scan active Kubernetes clusters for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.

Operationally, Kubescape offers flexible deployment options, including a CLI interface and an in-cluster mode via a Helm chart. The in-cluster mode provides continuous scanning, image vulnerability scanning, and runtime analysis, among other features. The tool generates scan results in various formats, such as JSON, JUnit XML, SARIF, HTML, and PDF, and can submit these results to cloud services. However, the performance of large-scale scans can be impacted by the complexity of the Rego rules and the volume of resources being scanned.

Key technical details include the use of Grype for container image scanning and Copacetic for image patching. The regolibrary, which contains the security controls, is available as OPA bundles for both WASM and Rego targets, although some rules may require customized Rego built-in functions and are not supported in the OPA bundles. Kubescape's multi-cloud support ensures frictionless security across various cloud providers and Kubernetes distributions.