# Security Hardening and Design System Overhaul

*March 2026*

The past two weeks brought a wave of security improvements and a complete design system standardization to KubeStellar Console. Here's what changed.

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## Security Hardening

A comprehensive security pass touched every layer of the stack:

- **Hardened Dockerfile** — runs as non-root user, includes health checks, uses multi-stage builds with a minimal final image
- **Helm chart defaults** — NetworkPolicy, PodDisruptionBudget, and securityContext are now configured out of the box
- **API validation** — upper-bound limits on query parameters, token validation on sensitive endpoints, HTTP client timeouts for all AI provider calls
- **Frontend security** — sanitized error messages (no stack traces leaked to UI), `rel="noopener noreferrer"` on all external links, removed console.log statements from production builds
- **4 security scanners** integrated into CI — catching vulnerabilities before they reach main
- **Content Security Policy** fixes for console.kubestellar.io

These aren't theoretical improvements. Each one was identified by automated security scanning and fixed with a tested PR.

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## Design System Standardization

The console's UI was cleaned up with a consistent design language:

- **Unified color palette** — merged overlapping color ranges (indigo/blue, pink/purple) into a single coherent palette
- **Semantic design tokens** — replaced 28 files of hardcoded color values with semantic tokens (`text-muted`, `bg-surface`, `border-default`) so the entire UI updates consistently
- **StatusBadge component** — migrated 240+ inline badge spans to a shared component with consistent sizing, colors, and accessibility
- **Button component** — consolidated ~88 inline button implementations into a single shared component
- **Standardized backdrop blur** — all modals now use consistent 24px blur

The result is a UI that looks more polished and is much easier to maintain and theme.

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## What This Means for You

- **Self-hosted deployments** are more secure by default — just `helm install` and you get network policies, pod security, and non-root containers
- **The UI is more consistent** — every badge, button, and color follows the same design language
- **Accessibility improved** — focus trapping in modals, proper ARIA attributes, keyboard navigation

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## Links

- **Try it:** [console.kubestellar.io](https://console.kubestellar.io)
- **Helm chart:** [github.com/kubestellar/console/tree/main/deploy/helm/kubestellar-console](https://github.com/kubestellar/console/tree/main/deploy/helm/kubestellar-console)
- **Documentation:** [kubestellar.io/docs/console/readme](https://kubestellar.io/docs/console/readme)
