Formula
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Pentest
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Last edited time
May 29, 2024 1:59 PM
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👉 Overview
👀 What ?
Pentesting Tiller (Helm) is a process of conducting an authorized simulated attack on a system or network that uses Tiller (Helm) to assess its security weakness. Tiller (Helm) is a package manager for Kubernetes. Its goal is to simplify the deployment of applications and services to Kubernetes clusters.
🧐 Why ?
Pentesting Tiller (Helm) is crucial because Kubernetes has become the de-facto standard for running containerized services and applications in the cloud, and Tiller (Helm) is often used to manage such deployments. A weak configuration or poorly managed Tiller (Helm) instance can expose the entire Kubernetes cluster to risk, leading to potential data breaches or server takeovers.
⛏️ How ?
Pentesting Tiller (Helm) involves a step by step process. First, you need to identify running Tiller instances in the Kubernetes cluster. Then, check if Tiller is protected by any authentication methods. If not, or if you can bypass the authentication, you can then interact with Tiller to list, install or delete Helm charts, potentially leading to unauthorized access to applications running in the Kubernetes cluster. Using tools like kube-hunter or kube-bench can help automate some of these steps.
⏳ When ?
Pentesting Tiller (Helm) should be done regularly, especially before deploying a new application or after major changes to the Kubernetes cluster. Regular pentesting can help identify and fix security vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers.
⚙️ Technical Explanations
Tiller (Helm) operates within the Kubernetes system, managing the lifecycle of applications defined by Helm Charts. Since Tiller has a high level of access within the Kubernetes cluster, it's a prime target for attackers. In a pentest, the tester would attempt to interact with Tiller, just as an attacker might, to identify vulnerabilities. They would look for misconfigurations in the Tiller setup, such as Tiller being run as a root user, or Tiller's gRPC endpoint being exposed without proper authentication. They would then attempt to exploit these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to the system or escalate their privileges. The results of the pentest would then be used to strengthen the security of the Tiller setup.