Nist Compliance Agent

NIST Compliance Agent

Deploys OPA Gatekeeper with NIST SP 800-53 labeled constraints following ch-stark/gatekeeper-examples patterns.

Workflow Overview

This skill follows the ch-stark/gatekeeper-examples pattern with three levels:

LEVEL 1 - Infrastructure:

• policy-install-gatekeeper
• policy-check-gatekeeper
• policy-configure-gatekeeper

LEVEL 2 - Templates:

• policy-gatekeeperlibrary (deploys ConstraintTemplates)

LEVEL 3 - Constraints:

• policy-nist-sc-controls (with NIST labels)
• policy-nist-si-controls (with NIST labels)
• policy-nist-cm-controls (with NIST labels)
• policy-nist-ac-controls (with NIST labels)

Each level depends on the previous level being Compliant before proceeding.

Step 1: Cluster Discovery

1.1 Get Cluster Version

Use: mcp__kubernetes__resources_get
Parameters: apiVersion=config.openshift.io/v1, kind=ClusterVersion, name=version

1.2 Check Gatekeeper Status

Use: mcp__kubernetes__namespaces_list
Check: "gatekeeper-system" or "openshift-gatekeeper-system" exists

1.3 Load NIST Mappings

Use references/NIST_800_53_CATALOG.md for control-to-policy mappings and constraint examples.

Step 2: SCC Analysis (OpenShift Only)

2.1 Get SCCs and Pod Distribution

Use: mcp__kubernetes__resources_list
Parameters: apiVersion=security.openshift.io/v1, kind=SecurityContextConstraints

Use: mcp__kubernetes__pods_list
Extract: metadata.annotations["openshift.io/scc"]

2.2 Calculate Coverage

Use the mapping in references/NIST_800_53_CATALOG.md section "Complete Mapping Table":

• ≥95% SCC coverage → SKIP (redundant)
• <95% SCC coverage → INCLUDE (gap-filling)
• 0% SCC coverage → CRITICAL (must include)

Step 3: Create Output Directory

TRACE_ID=$(python3 skills/nist-compliance-agent/scripts/get_trace_id.py 2>/dev/null || echo "no-trace")
OUTPUT_DIR="skills/nist-compliance-agent/assets/${TRACE_ID}"
mkdir -p ${OUTPUT_DIR}/{gatekeeperinstall,gatekeeperchecks,gatekeeperconfig,gatekeeperlibrary,nist-constraints/{ac,cm,sc,si},placements}
cd ${OUTPUT_DIR}

Step 4: Download ch-stark Manifests

# Level 1: Gatekeeper Installation
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ch-stark/gatekeeper-examples/main/gatekeeperinstall/gatekeepersubscription.yaml \
  -o gatekeeperinstall/gatekeepersubscription.yaml

# Level 1: Gatekeeper Health Checks
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ch-stark/gatekeeper-examples/main/gatekeeperchecks/gatekeeper-ready.yaml \
  -o gatekeeperchecks/gatekeeper-ready.yaml

# Level 1: Gatekeeper Configuration
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ch-stark/gatekeeper-examples/main/gatekeeperconfig/config.yaml \
  -o gatekeeperconfig/config.yaml

# Level 2: Gatekeeper Library
cat <<'EOF' > gatekeeperlibrary/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
  - https://github.com/open-policy-agent/gatekeeper-library/library
EOF

Step 5: Generate NIST-Labeled Constraints

5.1 NIST Label Schema

All constraints MUST include:

Labels (for filtering):

labels:
  nist-family: "SC"                        # AC, AU, CM, SC, SI
  nist-control: "SC-39"                    # Primary control ID
  nist-control-name: "process-isolation"   # Kebab-case name
  compliance-framework: "nist-800-53-r5"
  severity: "critical"                     # critical, high, medium, low

Annotations (for reporting):

annotations:
  nist.compliance/control: "SC-39"
  nist.compliance/control-name: "Process Isolation"
  nist.compliance/description: "Maintain separate execution domain for each process"
  policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5"
  policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: "System and Communications Protection"
  policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: "SC-39"

5.2 Generate Constraints

Use references/NIST_800_53_CATALOG.md section "NIST-to-Gatekeeper Mapping Examples" for constraint templates.

Generate constraints organized by NIST family:

• nist-constraints/ac/ - Access Control (AC-2, AC-3, AC-6)
• nist-constraints/cm/ - Configuration Management (CM-2, CM-7)
• nist-constraints/sc/ - System Protection (SC-7, SC-8, SC-39)
• nist-constraints/si/ - System Integrity (SI-7)

Priority order (from references/NIST_800_53_CATALOG.md):

1. CRITICAL (0% SCC): read-only-root-filesystem, seccompv2, proc-mount
2. ALWAYS INCLUDE: requiredlabels, allowedrepos, imagedigests, httpsonly
3. CONDITIONAL: Check SCC coverage before including

Step 6: Generate policyGenerator.yaml

Follow references/POLICYGENERATOR_FORMAT.md and ch-stark pattern:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PolicyGenerator
metadata:
  name: nist-gatekeeper-compliance
placementBindingDefaults:
  name: nist-gatekeeper-binding
policyDefaults:
  namespace: policies
  placement:
    placementName: gatekeeper-placement
  remediationAction: inform
  informGatekeeperPolicies: false
  pruneObjectBehavior: DeleteIfCreated
  ignorePending: true

policies:
  # LEVEL 1: Infrastructure (enforce)
  - name: policy-install-gatekeeper
    manifests:
      - path: gatekeeperinstall
    remediationAction: enforce

  - name: policy-check-gatekeeper
    manifests:
      - path: gatekeeperchecks
    remediationAction: enforce
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-install-gatekeeper"
        compliance: "Compliant"

  - name: policy-configure-gatekeeper
    manifests:
      - path: gatekeeperconfig
    remediationAction: enforce
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-check-gatekeeper"
        compliance: "Compliant"

  # LEVEL 2: ConstraintTemplates
  - name: policy-gatekeeperlibrary
    manifests:
      - path: gatekeeperlibrary
    remediationAction: enforce
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-check-gatekeeper"
        compliance: "Compliant"
    ignorePending: true

  # LEVEL 3: NIST Constraints (by family)
  - name: policy-nist-sc-controls
    manifests:
      - path: nist-constraints/sc
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-gatekeeperlibrary"
        compliance: "Compliant"
    policyAnnotations:
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5"
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: "SC-39,SC-8"

  - name: policy-nist-si-controls
    manifests:
      - path: nist-constraints/si
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-gatekeeperlibrary"
        compliance: "Compliant"
    policyAnnotations:
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5"
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: "SI-7"

  - name: policy-nist-cm-controls
    manifests:
      - path: nist-constraints/cm
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-gatekeeperlibrary"
        compliance: "Compliant"
    policyAnnotations:
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5"
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: "CM-2"

  - name: policy-nist-ac-controls
    manifests:
      - path: nist-constraints/ac
    dependencies:
      - name: "policy-gatekeeperlibrary"
        compliance: "Compliant"
    policyAnnotations:
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: "NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5"
      policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: "AC-6"

Step 7: Generate Supporting Files

kustomization.yaml

apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
generators:
  - policyGenerator.yaml

placements/placements.yaml

See references/POLICYGENERATOR_FORMAT.md for placement templates.

Step 8: Deploy

# Create namespace
kubectl create namespace policies --dry-run=client -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -

# Apply placements
kubectl apply -f placements/placements.yaml

# Label clusters
kubectl label managedcluster <cluster-name> gatekeeper=true compliance=nist-moderate environment=staging

# Build and apply
kustomize build --enable-alpha-plugins . | kubectl apply -n policies -f -

Step 9: Verify NIST Labels

# List constraints with NIST labels
kubectl get constraints -o custom-columns="NAME:.metadata.name,NIST-CONTROL:.metadata.labels.nist-control,SEVERITY:.metadata.labels.severity"

# Query by NIST control
kubectl get constraints -l nist-control=SC-39

# Query by severity
kubectl get constraints -l severity=critical

Output Structure

assets/${TRACE_ID}/
├── kustomization.yaml
├── policyGenerator.yaml
├── gatekeeperinstall/
├── gatekeeperchecks/
├── gatekeeperconfig/
├── gatekeeperlibrary/
├── nist-constraints/
│   ├── ac/
│   ├── cm/
│   ├── sc/
│   └── si/
├── placements/
└── NIST_COMPLIANCE_REPORT.md

Trigger Phrases

• "Set up NIST 800-53 compliance with Gatekeeper"
• "Deploy gatekeeper-library with NIST labels"
• "Follow ch-stark pattern with NIST compliance"

Reference Files

references/NIST_800_53_CATALOG.md

• NIST control mappings
• Constraint examples with NIST labels
• SCC coverage analysis

references/ACM_GATEKEEPER_EXAMPLES.md

• ch-stark integration patterns

references/POLICYGENERATOR_FORMAT.md

• PolicyGenerator structure
• Placement templates