# Cis K8S V1120 5.1.6

> Ensure that Service Account Tokens are only mounted where necessary (Manual)

- Skill: `cyberstrikeus/cis-k8s-v1120-5-1-6` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add cyberstrikeus/cis-k8s-v1120-5-1-6`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/cyberstrikeus/cis-k8s-v1120-5-1-6/raw
- Safety review: PASS (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: DevOps & Infra
- Author: cyberstrikeus (https://skillmd.com/u/cyberstrikeus)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/cyberstrikeus/cis-k8s-v1120-5-1-6

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# 5.1.6 Ensure that Service Account Tokens are only mounted where necessary (Manual)

## Profile Applicability

- Level 1 - Master Node

## Description

Service accounts tokens should not be mounted in pods except where the workload running in the pod explicitly needs to communicate with the API server.

## Rationale

Mounting service account tokens inside pods can provide an avenue for privilege escalation attacks where an attacker is able to compromise a single pod in the cluster.

Avoiding mounting these tokens removes this attack avenue.

## Impact

Pods mounted without service account tokens will not be able to communicate with the API server, except where the resource is available to unauthenticated principals.

## Audit Procedure

Review pod and service account objects in the cluster and ensure that the option below is set, unless the resource explicitly requires this access.

```yaml
automountServiceAccountToken: false
```

## Remediation

Modify the definition of pods and service accounts which do not need to mount service account tokens to disable it.

## Default Value

By default, all pods get a service account token mounted in them.

## References

1. https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-service-account/

## CIS Controls

| Controls Version | Control            | IG 1 | IG 2 | IG 3 |
| ---------------- | ------------------ | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| v8               | 3 Data Protection  |      |      |      |
| v7               | 13 Data Protection |      |      |      |