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✨ Replace deprecated kube-rbac-proxy with controller-runtime built-in metrics auth#1507

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✨ Replace deprecated kube-rbac-proxy with controller-runtime built-in metrics auth#1507
aruneshpa wants to merge 1 commit intovmware-tanzu:mainfrom
aruneshpa:features/use-controller-runtime-instead-of-kube-rbac-proxy

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@aruneshpa
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What does this PR do, and why is it needed?

kube-rbac-proxy has been deprecated upstream. This replaces it with controller-runtime's built-in SecureServing and FilterProvider using filters.WithAuthenticationAndAuthorization, which performs the same TokenReview/SubjectAccessReview checks in-process.

  • Enable SecureServing and FilterProvider on metricsserver.Options
  • Carry over TLS cipher suite restrictions (TLS 1.2+, ECDHE+AES-GCM only)
  • Remove kube-rbac-proxy sidecar from deployment patches
  • Update default metrics bind address from :8083 to :8443
  • Remove proxy_metrics_port_patch.yaml (no longer needed)
  • Simplify WCP manager_metrics_port_patch to configure manager directly
  • Keep existing RBAC for TokenReviews/SubjectAccessReviews (still needed)

Please add a release note if necessary:

Replace deprecated kube-rbac-proxy with controller-runtime built-in metrics auth

@aruneshpa aruneshpa requested review from akutz and bryanv as code owners March 10, 2026 19:41
@aruneshpa aruneshpa marked this pull request as draft March 10, 2026 19:41
@github-actions github-actions bot added the size/M Denotes a PR that changes 30-99 lines. label Mar 10, 2026
@aruneshpa aruneshpa force-pushed the features/use-controller-runtime-instead-of-kube-rbac-proxy branch 2 times, most recently from c6f028d to 3e2d5b7 Compare March 16, 2026 21:41
@aruneshpa aruneshpa marked this pull request as ready for review March 16, 2026 21:41
… metrics auth

kube-rbac-proxy has been deprecated upstream. This replaces it with
controller-runtime's built-in SecureServing and FilterProvider using
filters.WithAuthenticationAndAuthorization, which performs the same
TokenReview/SubjectAccessReview checks in-process.

- Enable SecureServing and FilterProvider on metricsserver.Options
- Add MetricsTLSOpts to manager Options with default TLS 1.2+ and
  ECDHE+AES-GCM cipher suites, matching the prior kube-rbac-proxy config
- Remove kube-rbac-proxy sidecar from deployment patches
- Update default metrics bind address from :8083 to :8443
- Remove proxy_metrics_port_patch.yaml (no longer needed)
- Simplify WCP manager_metrics_port_patch to configure manager directly
- Keep existing RBAC for TokenReviews/SubjectAccessReviews (still needed)

Testing Done:
- Modified the deployment in an existing env.  Had to update RBAC and
patch the deployment.

- Directly accessing the metrics port now we get 401:

root@4236e339a8bbba37cfa10f814885be6f [ ~ ]# curl -sk https://localhost:9848/metrics
Unauthorized

- Since the metrics port has TLS enabled, sending HTTP request returns
error
root@4236e339a8bbba37cfa10f814885be6f [ ~ ]# curl -sk http://localhost:9848/metrics
Client sent an HTTP request to an HTTPS server.

- Successfully able to get metrics directly by going to the Pod's
metrics port:
```
root@4236e339a8bbba37cfa10f814885be6f [ ~ ]# TOKEN=$(kubectl -n vmware-system-vmop create token vmware-system-vmop-vmoperator-service-account --duration=10m) && curl -sk -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://localhost:9848/metrics | more
certwatcher_read_certificate_errors_total 0
certwatcher_read_certificate_total 6504
```

- With Cypher suites for 1.3
root@4236e339a8bbba37cfa10f814885be6f [ ~ ]# TOKEN=$(kubectl -n vmware-system-vmop create token vmware-system-vmop-vmoperator-service-account --duration=10m) && curl --tls13-ciphers 'TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384'  -sk -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" https://localhost:9848/metrics | head -5
certwatcher_read_certificate_errors_total 0
@aruneshpa aruneshpa force-pushed the features/use-controller-runtime-instead-of-kube-rbac-proxy branch from 3e2d5b7 to 727f54b Compare March 16, 2026 21:42
@aruneshpa aruneshpa changed the title :sparkes: Replace deprecated kube-rbac-proxy with controller-runtime built-in metrics auth ✨ Replace deprecated kube-rbac-proxy with controller-runtime built-in metrics auth Mar 16, 2026
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Code Coverage

Package Line Rate Health
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/contentlibrary/contentlibraryitem 67%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/contentlibrary/utils 85%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/infra/configmap 75%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/storage/storageclass 93%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/storage/storagepolicy 96%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/storage/storagepolicyquota 91%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/util/encoding 73%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachine/storagepolicyusage 96%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachine/virtualmachine 68%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachine/volume 85%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachine/volumebatch 89%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachineclass 73%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinegroup 89%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinegrouppublishrequest 88%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachineimagecache 88%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinepublishrequest 84%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinereplicaset 67%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachineservice 83%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachineservice/providers 92%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinesetresourcepolicy 81%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinesnapshot 92%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinewebconsolerequest 72%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinewebconsolerequest/v1alpha1 72%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinewebconsolerequest/v1alpha1/conditions 88%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/virtualmachinewebconsolerequest/v1alpha1/patch 78%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/controllers/vspherepolicy/policyevaluation 85%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/bitmask 100%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/builder 89%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/config 100%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/context 35%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/context/generic 100%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/context/operation 100%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/crd 76%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/errors 76%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/exit 100%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/log 100%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/mem 100%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/patch 78%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/prober 89%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/prober/probe 90%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/pkg/providers/vsphere 75%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachine/mutation 87%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachine/validation 94%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachineclass/validation 89%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachinepublishrequest/validation 90%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachineservice/mutation 67%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachinesetresourcepolicy/validation 89%
github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachinesnapshot/mutation 83%
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github.com/vmware-tanzu/vm-operator/webhooks/virtualmachinewebconsolerequest/validation 92%
Summary 83% (18757 / 22482)

Minimum allowed line rate is 79%

@sbueringer
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Makes sense to me!

/lgtm

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