kube2iam

kube2iam is a Kubernetes solution that provides IAM credentials to containers based on pod annotations. The tool intercepts traffic directed to the EC2 metadata API from Docker containers and redirects it to a dedicated container running on each cluster node. When a container requests IAM credentials, kube2iam makes calls to the AWS API to retrieve temporary credentials and returns them to the requesting container. This allows containers to assume specific IAM roles without requiring static credentials or broad permissions. The system operates by running a privileged container on each Kubernetes node that acts as a proxy for metadata API requests. Non-IAM related metadata requests are forwarded to the actual EC2 metadata API, while IAM credential requests are handled by the kube2iam service. The tool requires appropriate IAM permissions to assume roles and retrieve temporary credentials from AWS. Container access to specific IAM roles is controlled through Kubernetes pod annotations, providing a mechanism to implement least-privilege access patterns in containerized environments.