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To secure a cloud-native application, protect it across its full lifecycle: design and development, the CI/CD path that builds and distributes it, deployment, and operation. Open-source projects and standards can help with each stage, but no single scanner, signature, or other tool makes an application secure. Choose controls for your architecture and risks, then verify that they work together.
What cloud-native application security covers
Cloud-native applications are often assembled from microservices and delivered through automated pipelines. Their security therefore depends on more than application code: development environments, build systems, dependencies, packages, container images, deployment artifacts, and the systems that run them all matter.
The Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s Cloud Native Security Whitepaper, published June 3, 2022, frames security as a lifecycle concern. Kubernetes’ cloud-native security guidance also organizes controls across development, distribution, deployment, and operations. NIST SP 800-204D, finalized February 12, 2024, focuses specifically on integrating software supply-chain security measures into DevSecOps CI/CD pipelines.
These sources offer guidance, not a one-size-fits-all checklist. A control that suits one architecture or threat model may not fit another. Start by identifying what the application handles, which systems and people it trusts, and what an attacker could gain by compromising its code or delivery path.
#1 Best Overall
How to secure each stage of the lifecycle
1. Develop: address risks before building
Map important assets and trust boundaries, then consider likely threats and the consequences of compromise. Use design review and code review to catch application-security problems while changes are still being made. Protect the integrity of development environments and the inputs developers use; compromised tools or inputs can undermine the software before it reaches a build pipeline.
Kubernetes guidance also names fuzzing and security chaos engineering as advanced automation to consider when justified. They are possible additions, not prerequisites for every team. Prioritize controls according to the application’s risks and the team’s ability to maintain and act on them.
Rank #2
2. Build and distribute: protect the path from source to artifact
Map the actual delivery path: source, build, test, package, registry or other distribution channel, and deployment. Consider how each stage could introduce, alter, or pass along an unsafe artifact. NIST SP 800-204D addresses supply-chain measures across these CI/CD stages.
- Establish a process to discover vulnerabilities in dependencies and resulting artifacts, and to update affected components.
- Scan images and other artifacts for known vulnerabilities. A scan can identify known issues; it does not prove that an artifact is safe or that its contents and build process are trustworthy.
- Obtain software through distribution channels that protect data in transit and provide a chain of trust.
- Keep track of security announcements and have a response process for affected dependencies and artifacts.
Use complementary evidence rather than treating one security indicator as proof of everything. Each kind of evidence answers a different question:
| Evidence or control | What it helps establish | What it does not establish by itself |
|---|---|---|
| Vulnerability scan | Whether the scan found known vulnerabilities in the material it examined. | That the artifact has no unknown flaws, or that it came from a trusted build process. |
| Software bill of materials (SBOM) | Information about software components in an artifact. | That the listed software is free of vulnerabilities or was built as intended. |
| Provenance | Information about how and where software was produced. | That the artifact meets the organization’s security requirements. |
| Attestation | A claim about an artifact or a process that can be evaluated against requirements. | That the claim is sufficient or acceptable without verification and policy. |
| Signature | A way for recipients to verify artifact identity and integrity against a trusted key or identity. | How or where the software was built, or what it contains. |
| Policy decision | Whether checked evidence meets the organization’s stated deployment requirements. | That the requirements are well chosen or that every risk has been addressed. |
CNCF’s overview of a Kubernetes supply-chain security map cautions that signing alone does not reveal build origin or artifact contents. The useful question is not whether an artifact has a badge, but whether the evidence is verified and meets requirements appropriate to its risk.
3. Deploy: verify artifacts against policy
Define what an artifact must satisfy before it can be deployed. Depending on the application and delivery platform, requirements may cover acceptable sources, signature verification, provenance, vulnerability results, and component inventories. Where available, use admission controls or an equivalent deployment gate to reject artifacts that fail those requirements.
Make the policy operational: decide which evidence is required, how it is checked, and what happens when evidence is missing or a check fails. The implementation depends on the cluster, delivery platform, and organizational threat model; the guidance does not prescribe one universal configuration.
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4. Operate: respond and keep components current
Security work continues after deployment. Track relevant security announcements, assess whether affected dependencies or artifacts are in use, and update them through the delivery process. Kubernetes guidance also points to certificate validation as part of supply-chain assurance. Consider recurring or runtime checks where they suit the deployment context, rather than assuming a successful pre-deployment check covers every later change or risk.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose open-source controls
Choose controls by first naming the lifecycle gap or risk they are meant to address. Then assess what each candidate actually does and what the team must do to operate it. NIST’s supply-chain guidance is aimed at federal agencies acquiring, deploying, using, and managing third-party software and services; organizations outside that audience can use it as guidance, but should not assume its federal-specific framing applies directly to them.
- Lifecycle coverage: Does the control address development, build, distribution, deployment, or runtime? What remains uncovered?
- Evidence: Does it produce vulnerability findings, component information, provenance, a signature, an attestation, or a policy decision? These outputs are not interchangeable.
- Verification and enforcement: Can a claim be checked, and can a failing artifact be blocked before deployment?
- Integration and operating effort: Does it fit the existing source-control, CI/CD, registry, and deployment setup? Can the team maintain its rules and respond to findings?
- Maturity and applicability: Is the project suitable for the target environment, and can the team validate its current status and maintain it? NIST advises prioritizing capabilities according to maturity and practicality.
The CNCF Contributors’ Cloud Native Security Controls Catalog can help teams navigate control categories. Use catalogs and standards to inform selection, then confirm that a specific project fits the actual environment and threat model.
A practical starting sequence
- Map the application and delivery path. Identify key assets, trust boundaries, dependencies, build stages, artifact destinations, and deployment points.
- Prioritize risks. Use design and code review to address development risks; identify where dependency, artifact, or distribution risks need attention.
- Establish scanning and update practices. Scan images and other artifacts, monitor security announcements, and define how affected dependencies will be assessed and updated.
- Decide what evidence deployment requires. Specify when component information, provenance, signatures, attestations, or vulnerability results are needed. Do not treat one evidence type as a substitute for another.
- Verify and enforce the requirements. Check evidence through policy before deployment, and use admission or an equivalent control to reject artifacts that do not meet the rules where the platform supports it.
- Review the controls as the system changes. Reassess the fit as architecture, delivery processes, dependencies, and threat assumptions change.
Guidance and scope
The principal references for this lifecycle approach are NIST SP 800-204D, Strategies for the Integration of Software Supply Chain Security in DevSecOps CI/CD Pipelines (final publication February 12, 2024); NIST’s Software Security in Supply Chains: Guidance, Purpose, Scope, and Audience (updated November 1, 2024); CNCF’s Cloud Native Security Whitepaper (published June 3, 2022); Kubernetes documentation on Cloud Native Security and Kubernetes; CNCF’s A MAP for Kubernetes supply chain security (April 12, 2022); and the CNCF Contributors’ Cloud Native Security Controls Catalog. The Kubernetes documentation and CNCF catalog are living resources; check them directly for current implementation guidance.
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