urllib3 2.4.0 + Python 3.13 breaks SSL against Kubernetes: what you need to know

Bumped to Python 3.13 and suddenly your Kubernetes automation stopped working? Here’s the error you’re probably seeing: 1 2 3 4 5 urllib3.exceptions.MaxRetryError: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='xxxx.gr7.us-east-1.eks.amazonaws.com', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: /version/ (Caused by SSLError(SSLCertVerificationError(1, '[SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed: Missing Authority Key Identifier (_ssl.c:1028)'))) Nothing changed on the cluster side. The problem is on your machine — specifically the combination of Python 3.13 and urllib3 2.4.0. Tracked in kubernetes-client/python#2394....

April 29, 2026 · 3 min · Oleksandr Kulbida

GuardDuty, phishing URLs, and SSRF: what DNS alerts really mean

Click to enlarge GuardDuty screams about a phishing domain. The node looks fine — no malware, no stolen creds. Often the real story is simpler: your app looked up a URL someone pasted in a message, and that hostname is on a threat list. The alert is still “true” (DNS to a bad name happened), but it is not a hacked cluster. The uncomfortable part: if you resolve or fetch any user URL with no checks, you also open the door to SSRF — for example a link to 169....

April 3, 2026 · 4 min · Oleksandr Kulbida

EKS with instance-store nitro-based node-group

Userdata is compatible with the standard AWS EKS Terraform module, with the sole recommendation being the utilization of a custom AMI. In order to use instance-store you also need to install local-static-provisioner - https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/sig-storage-local-static-provisioner Terraform example: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 eks-dev-instance-store = { instance_types = ["r6id....

March 16, 2024 · 3 min · Oleksandr Kulbida

EKS expose pods through cross-account load balancer

Expose Amazon EKS pods through cross-account load balancer https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/containers/expose-amazon-eks-pods-through-cross-account-load-balancer/

December 23, 2023 · 1 min · Oleksandr Kulbida

EKS simplified access

Simplified EKS access https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2023/12/amazon-eks-controls-iam-cluster-access-management/ https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/containers/a-deep-dive-into-simplified-amazon-eks-access-management-controls/ https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform-provider-aws/issues/34982

December 23, 2023 · 1 min · Oleksandr Kulbida

AWS Load Balancer Controller version 2.2 now available with support for NLB instance targeting

https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2021/05/aws-load-balancer-controller-version-2-2-available-support-nlb-instance/

May 24, 2021 · 1 min · Oleksandr Kulbida

EKS add-ons now supports CoreDNS and kube-proxy

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) now supports using the Amazon EKS console, CLI, and API to install and manage CoreDNS and kube-proxy in addition to existing support for the Amazon VPC CNI networking plugin. https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2021/05/eks-add-ons-now-support-coredns-kube-proxy/ https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/eks-add-ons.html

May 24, 2021 · 1 min · Oleksandr Kulbida