How to fix Permission denied when accessing hostPath volume in Kubernetes

KubernetesINTERMEDIATEHIGH

Pod cannot read/write hostPath volume due to permission mismatch. Container UID/GID does not match directory ownership on host. Write operations fail despite mounted path.

What this error means

hostPath volumes mount host directories directly into pods. When the pod's running user (container UID/GID) does not match the directory's ownership on the host, permission checks fail. Linux file permissions are enforced at the kernel level—the pod's process cannot read or write the directory even though the pod is allowed to mount it.

Typical symptoms

Pod fails with "Permission denied" reading/writing hostPath
Pod shows mounted volume but cannot access contents
ls command works but write operations fail
Pod runs as different UID/GID than directory owner
Error: "open(file): permission denied (os error 13)"
StatefulSet data directory inaccessible
Init container can write but main container cannot

Common causes

Container UID/GID differs from hostPath directory owner
Directory permissions too restrictive (644, 755)
Pod running as non-root; directory owned by root
SELinux or AppArmor blocking access
hostPath points to device file (requires special handling)
fsGroup in pod spec not matching file ownership
Host directory permissions changed after pod creation

How to fix "Permission denied when accessing hostPath volume"

1Step 1

First diagnostic step

2Step 2

Second diagnostic step

3Step 3

Third diagnostic step

4Step 4

Fourth diagnostic step

5Step 5

Advanced notes

Additional notes and platform-specific considerations.

Related errors

Official resources & further reading

📚Kubernetes Official Documentation
📖
Kubernetes API Reference(Official Docs)
📖
Kubernetes Tasks: Run Applications(Official Docs)
💬
Stack Overflow: Kubernetes host path permission denied(Stack Overflow)
🐙
Kubernetes GitHub Issues(GitHub)