diff --git a/charts/proxy/templates/bin/_liveness-probe.sh.tpl b/charts/proxy/templates/bin/_liveness-probe.sh.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c00266aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/charts/proxy/templates/bin/_liveness-probe.sh.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+FAILURE=0
+{{- if .Values.livenessProbe.whitelist }}
+WHITELIST='({{- join "|" .Values.livenessProbe.whitelist -}})'
+{{- end }}
+
+REQUEST='GET /healthz HTTP/1.0\r\nHost: localhost:10256\r\n'
+
+if [[ $(echo -e "${REQUEST}" | socat - TCP4:localhost:10256 | grep -sc '200 OK') -lt 1 ]]; then
+    echo Failed proxy built-in HTTP health check.
+    echo -e "${REQUEST}" | socat - TCP4:localhost:10256
+    FAILURE=1
+fi
+
+if [[ $(iptables-save {{- if .Values.livenessProbe.whitelist }} | grep -Ev "${WHITELIST}" {{- end }} | grep -sc 'has no endpoints') -gt 0 ]]; then
+    echo Some non-whitelisted services have no endpoints:
+    iptables-save | grep 'has no endpoints'
+    FAILURE=1
+fi
+
+if [[ "${FAILURE}" == "1" ]]; then
+    exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/charts/proxy/templates/bin/_readiness-probe.sh.tpl b/charts/proxy/templates/bin/_readiness-probe.sh.tpl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f87b48f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/charts/proxy/templates/bin/_readiness-probe.sh.tpl
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+
+iptables-save | grep 'default/kubernetes:https'
diff --git a/charts/proxy/templates/configmap-bin.yaml b/charts/proxy/templates/configmap-bin.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8b98721c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/charts/proxy/templates/configmap-bin.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+{{/*
+# Copyright (c) 2018 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License. */}}
+
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: ConfigMap
+metadata:
+  name: kubernetes-proxy-bin
+data:
+  liveness-probe.sh: |
+{{ tuple "bin/_liveness-probe.sh.tpl" . | include "helm-toolkit.utils.template" | indent 4 }}
+  readiness-probe.sh: |
+{{ tuple "bin/_readiness-probe.sh.tpl" . | include "helm-toolkit.utils.template" | indent 4 }}
+...
diff --git a/charts/proxy/templates/daemonset.yaml b/charts/proxy/templates/daemonset.yaml
index 1af7df6b..ac77e107 100644
--- a/charts/proxy/templates/daemonset.yaml
+++ b/charts/proxy/templates/daemonset.yaml
@@ -63,24 +63,23 @@ spec:
           - name: KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT
             value: {{ .Values.kube_service.port | quote }}
         livenessProbe:
-          httpGet:
-            host: 127.0.0.1
-            path: /healthz
-            port: 10256
-          failureThreshold: 3
-          initialDelaySeconds: 15
-          periodSeconds: 10
-          successThreshold: 1
-          timeoutSeconds: 5
+{{ toYaml .Values.livenessProbe.config | indent 10 }}
+          exec:
+            command:
+              - /tmp/bin/liveness-probe.sh
         readinessProbe:
           exec:
             command:
-            - sh
-            - -c
-            - |-
-              set -ex
-              iptables-save | grep 'default/kubernetes:https'
+              - /tmp/bin/readiness-probe.sh
           initialDelaySeconds: 15
           periodSeconds: 15
+        volumeMounts:
+          - name: bin
+            mountPath: /tmp/bin/
       serviceAccountName: kube-proxy
+      volumes:
+        - name: bin
+          configMap:
+            name: kubernetes-proxy-bin
+            defaultMode: 0555
 {{- end }}
diff --git a/charts/proxy/values.yaml b/charts/proxy/values.yaml
index 233467f8..18d1f2df 100644
--- a/charts/proxy/values.yaml
+++ b/charts/proxy/values.yaml
@@ -55,3 +55,17 @@ network:
 kube_service:
   host: 127.0.0.1
   port: 6553
+
+livenessProbe:
+  config:
+    # NOTE(mark-burnett): To avoid cascading failure modes, it is
+    # important that these values are configured to avoid the possibility
+    # of CrashLoopBackoff for this pod.  Otherwise, a small non-impacting
+    # issue could disable kube-proxy for the entire site.
+    failureThreshold: 10
+    initialDelaySeconds: 15
+    periodSeconds: 35
+    successThreshold: 1
+    timeoutSeconds: 10
+  whitelist:
+    # - postgres