RHACS CI/CD Integration: AI-Optimized Technical Reference

Executive Summary

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security (RHACS) 4.8 integration with CI/CD pipelines requires careful policy tuning and performance optimization. Default configurations will break deployments immediately. Implementation success requires phased rollout over 4-8 weeks with gradual enforcement escalation.

Configuration Requirements

Essential Settings for Production

• Scanner V4: Improved stability over previous versions but still struggles with Node.js images >2GB
• Policy Mode: Start all policies in "inform" mode, never begin with enforcement
• Authentication: Service account API tokens with minimal permissions, rotate regularly
• Network Requirements: RHACS Central must be reachable from CI/CD agents on port 443

Critical Failure Modes

• Default Policies: 375 out-of-box policies will flag every container running as root, breaking system containers, init containers, and infrastructure components
• Scanner Overload: Peak hour scanning (multiple teams pushing simultaneously) causes OOMKilled scanner pods and pipeline failures
• Authentication Issues: API token expiration causes exit code 13 with minimal diagnostic information
• Network Connectivity: Corporate firewalls and proxy configurations frequently block roxctl communication

Resource Requirements

Time Investment

• Setup Phase: 2-4 weeks for initial configuration and policy tuning
• Policy Tuning: 4-8 weeks of gradual enforcement escalation
• Maintenance: Ongoing policy review and exception management
• Troubleshooting: Plan 1-2 days monthly for authentication and connectivity issues

Expertise Requirements

• Prerequisites: Kubernetes security knowledge, CI/CD platform administration
• Learning Curve: Moderate for basic integration, high for advanced policy management
• Team Impact: Expect developer resistance during initial rollout period

Performance Specifications

• Scan Times: Small images (1-2 minutes), large images (15-20 minutes for bloated containers)
• Admission Controller Latency: 100-300ms additional deployment time
• Resource Usage: Scanner components require adequate CPU/RAM during peak scanning periods

Implementation Strategy

Phase 1: Informational Integration (Weeks 1-2)

# Example Jenkins informational scanning
roxctl image scan --image ${IMAGE_NAME}:${BUILD_NUMBER} \
  --endpoint ${RHACS_CENTRAL_ENDPOINT} \
  --token ${RHACS_API_TOKEN} \
  --output json > scan_results.json

• Enable scanning without build-breaking enforcement
• Collect baseline violation data for policy tuning decisions
• Identify most problematic policies before enforcement

Phase 2: Selective Enforcement (Weeks 3-4)

• Enable enforcement for critical issues only: HIGH/CRITICAL CVEs, privilege escalation, obvious misconfigurations
• Keep majority of policies informational while teams adapt
• Monitor violation patterns to identify next enforcement candidates

Phase 3: Full Enforcement (Month 2+)

• Gradually enable remaining policies based on violation data and team feedback
• Implement break-glass mechanisms for emergency deployments
• Establish regular policy review and exception management processes

Platform-Specific Integration Guidance

Jenkins Integration

• What Works: StackRox Container Image Scanner plugin provides mature integration with good reporting
• Critical Issue: Authentication randomly breaks after Jenkins restarts, requiring API token recreation
• Workaround: Store tokens in persistent storage, not temp directories affected by restarts

GitLab CI Integration

• What Works: Custom YAML configuration provides full control and reliable execution
• Challenge: Complex YAML configuration requires significant setup effort
• Recommendation: Use Red Hat's Trusted Application Pipeline documentation for working examples

GitHub Actions Integration

• What Works: Basic functionality through Red Hat's Trusted Application Pipeline
• Limitations: Minimal features for complex workflows, thin documentation
• Best For: Simple scanning use cases without advanced reporting requirements

Azure DevOps Integration

• Status: Manual implementation required, minimal official support
• Challenge: Requires custom PowerShell/bash scripting for roxctl integration
• Recommendation: Avoid unless mandated by corporate policy

Policy Configuration for Production Success

High-Priority Enforcement (Enable First)

• Critical and High severity CVEs in application dependencies
• Container privilege escalation (allowPrivilegeEscalation: true)
• Containers running as root (with system container exceptions)
• Images without security patches for 90+ days
• Secrets exposed in environment variables

Medium-Priority Enforcement (Enable After 2-4 Weeks)

• Medium severity CVEs
• Missing resource limits and requests
• Latest tag usage in image references
• Excessive container capabilities

Low-Priority Enforcement (Enable Last or Never)

• Low severity CVEs (high false positive rate)
• Dockerfile best practices violations
• Container efficiency recommendations
• Non-security configuration issues

Performance Optimization Techniques

Scanning Optimization

# Selective severity scanning for CI/CD performance
roxctl image scan --image myapp:latest --severity CRITICAL,HIGH \
  --endpoint $RHACS_CENTRAL_ENDPOINT --token $RHACS_API_TOKEN

# Branch-based scanning strategy
if [[ "$BRANCH" == "main" || "$BRANCH" == "develop" ]]; then
  SCAN_SEVERITY="LOW,MEDIUM,HIGH,CRITICAL"
else
  SCAN_SEVERITY="HIGH,CRITICAL"
fi

Parallel Processing

• Implement parallel image scanning for multi-service builds
• Use registry-triggered scanning to reduce CI/CD pipeline complexity
• Enable delegated scanning for geographically distributed teams

Error Handling and Resilience

# Retry logic with exponential backoff
RETRY_COUNT=0
MAX_RETRIES=3
until roxctl image scan --image $IMAGE_NAME; do
  RETRY_COUNT=$((RETRY_COUNT+1))
  if [[ $RETRY_COUNT -gt $MAX_RETRIES ]]; then
    echo "Max retries exceeded for image scan"
    exit 1
  fi
  sleep $((RETRY_COUNT * 30))
done

Critical Warnings and Operational Intelligence

What Official Documentation Doesn't Tell You

• Default policies will immediately break all deployments - plan for weeks of tuning
• Scanner V4 still fails on oversized Node.js containers despite improvements
• Authentication tokens expire without warning, causing mysterious build failures
• Corporate network configurations frequently block roxctl communication
• Policy violations spike during feature development, requiring ongoing exception management

Breaking Points and Failure Modes

• Scanner Overload: Multiple teams scanning simultaneously can crash scanner pods
• Policy Explosion: Enabling low-severity CVE policies generates thousands of violations
• Network Partitions: RHACS Central outages immediately break all builds without graceful degradation
• Token Rotation: Scheduled security token rotations can break CI/CD without notification

Real-World Implementation Pain Points

• Teams bypass security controls when policies are too restrictive initially
• Emergency deployments require documented break-glass procedures
• Policy exceptions accumulate over time without regular review
• Multi-architecture builds (ARM64/AMD64) require separate scanning workflows

Success Criteria and Monitoring

Key Performance Indicators

• Average scan time by image size and complexity
• Policy violation trends over development cycles
• CI/CD pipeline failure rates due to security issues
• Time to policy violation resolution
• Developer satisfaction with security integration

Alerting Strategy

• Scanner component resource exhaustion alerts
• API authentication failure notifications
• Unusual policy violation spike detection
• Emergency deployment usage monitoring

Decision Support Matrix

Scenario	Recommendation	Risk Level	Implementation Effort
New CI/CD integration	Start with informational mode	Low	High (4-8 weeks)
Legacy application scanning	Gradual enforcement rollout	Medium	Very High (2-3 months)
Emergency deployments	Implement break-glass procedures	High	Medium (1-2 weeks)
Multi-team environments	Use policy scopes extensively	Medium	High (ongoing)
High-security environments	Full enforcement with exceptions	High	Very High (3-6 months)

This technical reference provides the operational intelligence needed for successful RHACS CI/CD integration while avoiding common implementation pitfalls that cause project delays and team friction.