Service Accounts

Summary

• A ServiceAccount is the identity a pod presents to the Kubernetes API server, distinct from human users.
• Insight: modern clusters mount short-lived, audience-scoped projected tokens, not long-lived Secret tokens.
• Key Concepts: ServiceAccount objects, projected token volumes, audiences, and RBAC bindings that grant the account permissions.
• When to Use: any time a workload calls the API server, a cloud API, or another service that trusts cluster-issued tokens.
• Limitations: a ServiceAccount is namespaced, its default token targets only the API server, and it has no permissions until you bind a Role to it.

Recipe

Create a dedicated ServiceAccount per workload, bind the minimum Role, and reference it from the pod spec.

kubectl create serviceaccount checkout --namespace payments

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: checkout
  namespace: payments
spec:
  serviceAccountName: checkout
  automountServiceAccountToken: true
  containers:
    - name: app
      image: registry.example.com/checkout@sha256:abc123

Bind a narrow Role so the account can read only what it needs.

Working Example

Here is a complete, minimal setup: a ServiceAccount, a Role, a RoleBinding, and a Deployment that uses it.

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: checkout
  namespace: payments
automountServiceAccountToken: false
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  namespace: payments
  name: config-reader
rules:
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["configmaps"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  namespace: payments
  name: checkout-config
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: checkout
    namespace: payments
roleRef:
  kind: Role
  name: config-reader
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

Set automountServiceAccountToken back on only for the pod that needs it.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: checkout
  namespace: payments
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels: { app: checkout }
  template:
    metadata:
      labels: { app: checkout }
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: checkout
      automountServiceAccountToken: true
      containers:
        - name: app
          image: registry.example.com/checkout@sha256:abc123

The pod now authenticates to the API server as system:serviceaccount:payments:checkout and can read configmaps in payments, nothing more.

Deep Dive

How pod identity works

Every namespace ships with a default ServiceAccount, and pods that name none inherit it.

The API server projects a signed JWT into the pod, and the kubelet keeps it fresh.

The token's sub claim resolves to system:serviceaccount:<namespace>:<name>, which is the subject RBAC evaluates.

Projected token volumes

Since the BoundServiceAccountTokenVolume feature graduated, tokens are delivered through a projected volume, not a persistent Secret.

volumes:
  - name: api-token
    projected:
      sources:
        - serviceAccountToken:
            path: token
            expirationSeconds: 3600
            audience: api

• expirationSeconds bounds the token lifetime, and the kubelet rotates it before expiry.
• audience scopes the token to a specific recipient, so a token meant for one service is rejected by another.
• The token is bound to the pod's lifetime and is invalidated when the pod is deleted.

Turning off automounting

Most workloads never call the API server, so they should not carry a token.

Set automountServiceAccountToken: false on the ServiceAccount or pod to drop the mount.

This shrinks the blast radius if a container is compromised.

Tokens for external systems

The TokenRequest API issues audience-scoped tokens that external systems can verify against the cluster's OIDC discovery document.

Cloud providers use this for workload identity federation, letting a pod assume a cloud role without any static cloud key.

A pod requests such a token by declaring the target audience on a projected volume, and the receiving service validates the signature and audience before trusting it.

Because these tokens are short-lived and audience-bound, a token minted for one downstream cannot be replayed against another.

Inspecting a mounted token

You can confirm what a pod actually receives without leaving the cluster.

kubectl exec -n payments deploy/checkout -- \
  cat /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token

• The path is the default projected mount location for the API-server audience token.
• Decoding the JWT payload shows the sub, aud, and exp claims.
• The sub claim is the exact RBAC subject the API server evaluates.
• If the file is absent, automounting is off for that pod, which is the intended state for most workloads.

Gotchas

Do not bind Roles to the default ServiceAccount, since every pod without an explicit account inherits that access.

Legacy long-lived Secret tokens still exist if you manually create a kubernetes.io/service-account-token Secret, but avoid them - they do not expire and are a standing credential.

A ServiceAccount with no binding is not an error, it simply has zero API permissions, which is the correct default.

Cross-namespace binding requires the namespace field on the subject, and omitting it silently targets the binding's own namespace.

Granting create on serviceaccounts/token lets a subject mint tokens for other accounts, which is an escalation path worth auditing.

Alternatives

Use a per-workload ServiceAccount when a pod must call the API server or a token-trusting service - this is the default recommendation.

Use cloud workload identity federation, layered on projected tokens, when a pod needs cloud APIs without static keys.

Use automountServiceAccountToken: false with no bindings when a workload never talks to the API, which is the majority of application pods.

Use a human OIDC identity, not a ServiceAccount, for interactive kubectl access - ServiceAccounts are for workloads.

FAQs

What identity does a pod use if I set nothing? The default ServiceAccount of its namespace, which should carry no meaningful permissions.

Are ServiceAccount tokens still stored as Secrets? No, by default they are projected, short-lived tokens. Long-lived Secret tokens exist only if you create them explicitly.

How do I give a ServiceAccount permissions? Bind a Role or ClusterRole to it with a RoleBinding or ClusterRoleBinding, exactly as you would for a user.

Can one ServiceAccount be used across namespaces? No, a ServiceAccount is namespaced. A binding in another namespace can reference it, but the account object lives in one namespace.

How do I stop a container from receiving a token? Set automountServiceAccountToken: false on the pod or the ServiceAccount.

Related

• How Kubernetes Decides Who Can Do What
• RBAC Basics
• OIDC & SSO for kubectl
• RBAC Auditing
• RBAC Best Practices

Stack versions: This page was written for Kubernetes 1.36.2, Docker Engine 29.6.1 (BuildKit default), containerd (CRI runtime on nodes), Helm 3, Compose v2, Argo CD (latest - verify at build), and Gateway API (GA - verify controller support at build).