Kubernetes on EKS isn’t secure out of the box. Attackers can exploit misconfigured LoadBalancers, poisoned container images, overly privileged roles, and neglected init containers to break out of pods and compromise entire clusters.

This blog explores:

1. gh0stEdit: Stealthy image poisoning that bypasses Docker Content Trust
2. Malicious InitContainers: Invisible pre-attack vectors that hijack startup logic
3. Exposed EKS Services: NodePorts, public ELBs, and the dangers of default settings
4. etcd Injection: Bypassing the control plane with encoded object tampering
5. Gatekeeper + Rego: How to block risky configs like external LoadBalancers at admission

If you’re running Kubernetes in the cloud, this post is your roadmap to think like an attacker — and defend smarter.

Kubernetes is built for orchestration, not security. And when we run it on EKS, the abstraction doesn’t protect us from missteps like:
1. Public-facing LoadBalancers exposing internal apps
2. IAM role misuse via the aws-auth ConfigMap
3. Containers running with root privileges
4. CI/CD integrations that allow remote code…