ArgoCD Secrets Management#

GitOps says everything should be in Git. Kubernetes Secrets are base64-encoded, not encrypted. Committing base64 secrets to Git is equivalent to committing plaintext – anyone with repo access can decode them. This is the fundamental tension of GitOps secrets management.

Three approaches solve this, each with different tradeoffs.

Approach 1: Sealed Secrets#

Sealed Secrets encrypts secrets client-side so the encrypted form can be safely committed to Git. Only the Sealed Secrets controller running in-cluster can decrypt them.

Securing Docker-Based Validation Templates#

Validation templates define the environment agents use to test infrastructure changes. If a template runs containers as root, mounts the Docker socket, or skips resource limits, every agent that copies it inherits those risks. This reference covers the security patterns every docker-compose validation template must follow.

1. Non-Root Execution#

Containers run as root by default. A vulnerability in a root-running process gives an attacker full control inside the container and a much larger attack surface for container escapes.