Kyverno
Kubernetes-native policy engine that validates, mutates, and generates resources through declarative admission control policies.
Technical Architecture & Overview
Kyverno is a Kubernetes-native policy engine and a CNCF graduated project. It runs as a dynamic admission controller to validate, mutate, generate, and clean up Kubernetes resources based on declarative policies. It can also verify container image signatures and apply policies to any JSON payload, including Terraform resources, cloud resources, and service authorization requests. Policies are managed as Kubernetes resources and work with kubectl, kustomize, and Git.
Targeted Technical Use Cases
Enforce security, compliance, and operational policies at admission time and through background scans in Kubernetes clusters.
Evaluation & Trade-offs
Core Strengths
- +Policies are native Kubernetes resources managed with standard tooling.
- +Supports validation, mutation, generation, and container image verification.
- +Works with kubectl, kustomize, and Git, and the Kyverno CLI runs in CI/CD pipelines.
Trade-Offs & Limitations
- -Only enforces policies that are explicitly defined and deployed.
- -Cannot fix Kubernetes or infrastructure vulnerabilities outside its policy scope.
- -Webhook failures can affect cluster availability if not configured with fail-open or proper resource limits.
Defensive Security Application
Deploy Kyverno to reject non-compliant workloads, mutate unsafe defaults, and verify container image signatures for supply chain integrity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Kyverno?→
Kyverno is a Kubernetes-native policy engine and a CNCF graduated project. It runs as a dynamic admission controller to validate, mutate, generate, and clean up Kubernetes resources based on declarative policies. It can also verify container image signatures and apply policies to any JSON payload, including Terraform resources, cloud resources, and service authorization requests. Policies are managed as Kubernetes resources and work with kubectl, kustomize, and Git.
What is Kyverno used for?→
Enforce security, compliance, and operational policies at admission time and through background scans in Kubernetes clusters.
What are the strengths of Kyverno?→
- +Policies are native Kubernetes resources managed with standard tooling.
- +Supports validation, mutation, generation, and container image verification.
- +Works with kubectl, kustomize, and Git, and the Kyverno CLI runs in CI/CD pipelines.
What are the limitations of Kyverno?→
- +Only enforces policies that are explicitly defined and deployed.
- +Cannot fix Kubernetes or infrastructure vulnerabilities outside its policy scope.
- +Webhook failures can affect cluster availability if not configured with fail-open or proper resource limits.
How is Kyverno used defensively?→
Deploy Kyverno to reject non-compliant workloads, mutate unsafe defaults, and verify container image signatures for supply chain integrity.