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Question 1

Score: 0/0

You need to block all inbound traffic to Pods in a namespace unless another NetworkPolicy explicitly allows it. Which policy establishes that baseline?

A Service of type ClusterIP with no selectors

A NetworkPolicy that selects all Pods and defines policyTypes: ["Ingress"] with no ingress rules

An Ingress object with no backend paths

A LimitRange that omits default CPU values

to track

2026 Statistics

Key Facts: CKS Exam

67%

Passing Score

Linux Foundation

2 hrs

Exam Time

Linux Foundation

$445

Exam Fee

Linux Foundation

CKA first

Prerequisite

Linux Foundation

v1.34

Live Exam Version

Linux Foundation

2 years

Certification Validity

Linux Foundation

As of March 9, 2026, the Linux Foundation lists the CKS exam at $445 with 12 months to schedule, two exam attempts, and two Killer.sh simulator attempts. The current live exam environment runs Kubernetes v1.34, requires candidates to have already passed CKA before attempting CKS, and uses the official CNCF v1.34 blueprint: Cluster Setup 15%, Cluster Hardening 15%, System Hardening 10%, Minimize Microservice Vulnerabilities 20%, Supply Chain Security 20%, and Monitoring/Logging/Runtime Security 20%. I did not find a separate 2026 blueprint overhaul beyond the current v1.34 environment alignment and active Linux Foundation / PSI exam policies.

Sample CKS Practice Questions

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1You need to block all inbound traffic to Pods in a namespace unless another NetworkPolicy explicitly allows it. Which policy establishes that baseline?

A.A Service of type ClusterIP with no selectors

B.A NetworkPolicy that selects all Pods and defines policyTypes: ["Ingress"] with no ingress rules

C.An Ingress object with no backend paths

D.A LimitRange that omits default CPU values

Explanation: A default-deny ingress policy is created by selecting the target Pods and listing Ingress in policyTypes while leaving ingress rules empty. That does not shut networking off by itself forever, but it establishes the secure baseline so only later allow rules admit traffic.

2A team created one NetworkPolicy to allow traffic from namespace frontend and another to allow traffic from namespace monitoring. How does Kubernetes evaluate those policies for the same Pod?

A.Only the newest policy applies

B.Only the most specific selector applies

C.The allowed traffic is the union of what all applicable policies permit

D.The policies cancel each other out unless they are combined into one YAML

Explanation: NetworkPolicies are additive, not ordered like firewall rules. If multiple policies select the same Pod, traffic allowed by any applicable rule is permitted and traffic not allowed by any rule remains denied.

3A security engineer writes a NetworkPolicy, but traffic behavior in the cluster does not change at all. What is the most likely root cause?

A.The cluster uses a CNI plugin that does not enforce NetworkPolicy

B.The Pods were created with kubectl apply instead of kubectl create

C.The namespace has no ResourceQuota

D.The Services use ClusterIP instead of NodePort

Explanation: NetworkPolicy objects are only effective if the CNI implementation supports and enforces them. Creating correct YAML on a cluster with a non-supporting plugin stores the object in etcd, but traffic behavior stays unchanged.

4Which egress target is commonly blocked to reduce the risk of Pod access to cloud instance credentials on major cloud platforms?

A.127.0.0.1

B.10.96.0.10

C.169.254.169.254

D.224.0.0.1

Explanation: 169.254.169.254 is the well-known link-local metadata endpoint used by cloud providers for instance metadata and, in some environments, temporary credentials. Blocking Pod access to that address helps reduce credential theft paths from compromised workloads.

5You want a policy that allows ingress only from Pods with label role=frontend in the same namespace. Which selector belongs inside the ingress rule?

A.namespaceSelector

B.podSelector

C.nodeSelector

D.fieldSelector

Explanation: podSelector matches Pods as traffic sources within the same namespace unless combined with namespaceSelector. nodeSelector is unrelated to NetworkPolicy source matching, and fieldSelector is a kubectl filtering concept, not a NetworkPolicy peer construct.

6A namespace already has a default-deny ingress policy. You need to allow only TCP 443 from namespace ingress-nginx to Pods labeled app=payments. Which design is correct?

A.Create an allow policy selecting app=payments with a from rule for namespace ingress-nginx and port 443/TCP

B.Delete the default-deny policy before creating an allow rule

C.Change the Service type to LoadBalancer and omit NetworkPolicy

D.Add hostNetwork: true to the payments Pods

Explanation: With additive policies, you keep the default-deny rule and add a narrowly scoped allow rule for the required source and port. Deleting the baseline or exposing Pods more broadly weakens security instead of solving the specific access requirement.

7Which tool is specifically designed to compare Kubernetes component configuration against the CIS Kubernetes Benchmark?

A.Falco

B.kube-bench

C.kubeadm

D.stern

Explanation: kube-bench runs benchmark-style checks against Kubernetes nodes and control-plane components using the CIS guidance. Falco is for runtime behavior detection, kubeadm is for cluster lifecycle tasks, and stern is a log tailing utility.

8When reviewing kube-bench output, what is the most defensible next step after a failed control appears?

A.Apply every remediation immediately without validation

B.Treat every failed control as a false positive

C.Validate the finding in cluster context before changing production settings

D.Delete kube-bench because benchmarks are not useful on Kubernetes

Explanation: Benchmark tools accelerate review, but they do not replace engineering judgment. Some controls depend on environment, managed-service boundaries, or existing compensating controls, so you validate impact before blindly changing production systems.

9Which Kubernetes components are explicitly named in the CKS cluster-setup benchmark objective?

A.etcd, kubelet, kubedns, and kube-apiserver

B.Helm, Prometheus, Grafana, and Argo CD

C.CoreDNS, kube-proxy, kube-scheduler, and metrics-server only

D.containerd, Dockerfile, kubeadm, and cert-manager

Explanation: The cluster-setup objective calls out benchmarking the security configuration of core Kubernetes components such as etcd, kubelet, kubedns, and kube-apiserver. That objective is about foundational platform hardening, not general ecosystem add-ons.

10A kube-bench finding shows an insecure kubelet setting on a worker node. Which statement best describes the purpose of that finding?

A.It proves the node is already compromised

B.It identifies configuration drift or weak settings that increase attack surface

C.It automatically blocks all Pod scheduling until fixed

D.It means the cluster must be rebuilt from scratch

Explanation: Benchmark findings indicate posture weaknesses, not proof of active exploitation. Their value is in surfacing insecure or inconsistent settings that should be reviewed and remediated according to risk and operating context.

About the CKS Exam

The CKS is a hands-on Kubernetes security certification for candidates who already hold CKA. It validates practical skill in securing cluster setup, hardening workloads and nodes, protecting the software supply chain, and detecting or investigating runtime threats in real Kubernetes environments.

Assessment

15-20 performance-based tasks (hands-on; live task count varies by form)

Time Limit

2 hours

Passing Score

67%

Exam Fee

$445 (The Linux Foundation / CNCF / PSI)

CKS Exam Content Outline

15%

Cluster Setup

NetworkPolicies, CIS benchmark review, Ingress TLS, protecting node metadata and endpoints, and verifying platform binaries before deployment.

15%

Cluster Hardening

RBAC design, cautious ServiceAccount use, API access restriction, and Kubernetes upgrade practices that reduce exposure to known vulnerabilities.

10%

System Hardening

Reducing host OS attack surface, least-privilege IAM, minimizing unnecessary external network access, and using kernel hardening controls such as AppArmor and seccomp.

20%

Minimize Microservice Vulnerabilities

Pod Security Standards, Kubernetes Secrets handling, workload isolation and sandboxing, and Pod-to-Pod encryption patterns such as Cilium or service-mesh mTLS.

20%

Supply Chain Security

Base-image minimization, SBOM and CI/CD provenance, permitted registries, image signing and verification, and static analysis of images and manifests.

20%

Monitoring, Logging and Runtime Security

Behavioral analytics with tools such as Falco, runtime threat detection, attack investigation, immutable-container practices, and API audit logging.

How to Pass the CKS Exam

What You Need to Know

Passing score: 67%
Assessment: 15-20 performance-based tasks (hands-on; live task count varies by form)
Time limit: 2 hours
Exam fee: $445

Keys to Passing

Complete 500+ practice questions
Score 80%+ consistently before scheduling
Focus on highest-weighted sections
Use our AI tutor for tough concepts

CKS Study Tips from Top Performers

1Treat CKS like a lab exam: practice commands, YAML edits, and troubleshooting flow until they feel routine under time pressure.

2Memorize the six official domain weights and spend most of your time in the three 20% domains before polishing the two 15% areas.

3Be fluent with NetworkPolicy, RBAC, ServiceAccounts, Pod Security settings, and Secret-handling tradeoffs because they connect across multiple domains.

4Practice supply-chain tasks as a workflow, not isolated facts: minimal images, digests, signatures, SBOMs, scanners, and admission checks belong together.

5Use Falco-style behavioral examples and Kubernetes audit logs together so you can reason through both detection and investigation questions.

6Rehearse immutable-container patterns such as readOnlyRootFilesystem plus explicit writable volumes so you can distinguish secure fixes from ad hoc hot-patching.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the CKS exam?

CKS is the Certified Kubernetes Security Specialist exam from the Linux Foundation and CNCF. It is a hands-on, performance-based certification for Kubernetes practitioners who can secure cluster setup, workloads, the container supply chain, and runtime operations.

Do I need CKA before taking CKS?

Yes. Linux Foundation certification FAQ pages state that candidates must have already taken and passed the Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) exam before attempting the CKS exam.

How long is the CKS exam and what score do I need to pass?

Linux Foundation candidate documentation lists a 2-hour time limit and a 67% passing score for CKS. The exam is remote-proctored and performance-based rather than a traditional multiple-choice test.

What changed for CKS in 2026?

As of March 9, 2026, I did not find a separate 2026 blueprint redesign. The current live exam environment is Kubernetes v1.34, Linux Foundation pricing remains $445, and the active v1.34 curriculum weights remain 15/15/10/20/20/20 across the six security domains.

How should I prepare for CKS?

Prepare with daily hands-on terminal practice, not just flashcards. Focus first on the largest 20% domains: microservice vulnerabilities, supply-chain security, and runtime security, then close gaps in hardening and cluster-setup workflows. Practice using the official documentation and the included Killer.sh simulator so your speed matches the exam format.