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Gke Platform Security

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Plans, configures, and hardens platform-level Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster security. Covers cluster add-ons (Secret Manager enablement), RBAC hardening (disabling insecure bindings, audit tools), Binary Authorization, Secrets Encryption (--database-encryption-key), Security Posture (--security-posture), enabling Shielded Nodes, GKE Sandbox cluster enablement, GKE IAM roles, and cross-service authentication IAM patterns. Use when securing cluster control planes, hardening GKE RBAC, enabling Shielded Nodes, enabling GKE Sandbox runtime, enabling cluster-wide security add-ons, or managing GKE IAM roles. Don't use for Workload Identity (use gke-workload-identity) or workload-level security (SecretProviderClass, PSS, NetPol, gVisor pod runtimeClassName; use gke-workload-security).
— the description by Google

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured approach to securing the GKE control plane and infrastructure. It covers essential platform-level configurations including Secret Manager integration, RBAC hardening, Binary Authorization, and node-level security features like Shielded Nodes and GKE Sandbox. It emphasizes a golden path for cluster security, including the removal of insecure legacy RBAC bindings and the implementation of least-privilege IAM roles for cluster management.

What it does

  • Enables and configures the GKE Secret Manager add-on with automatic rotation.
  • Hardens cluster RBAC by disabling insecure legacy bindings.
  • Configures node-level security features such as Shielded Nodes and GKE Sandbox.
  • Provides guidance on managing GKE-specific IAM roles for platform and cluster administrators.
  • Outlines patterns for cross-service authentication between Google Service Accounts and cloud resources.
  • Enforces Binary Authorization to ensure image provenance.

When to use it

  • During the initial setup of a new GKE cluster to ensure secure defaults.
  • When auditing or hardening an existing GKE cluster's control plane security.
  • When configuring cluster-wide add-ons like Secret Manager.
  • When defining IAM roles for platform teams and cluster operators.
  • When enabling runtime isolation features like GKE Sandbox.

Advantages

  • Promotes a secure-by-default configuration for GKE infrastructure.
  • Reduces the attack surface by removing insecure legacy RBAC bindings.
  • Simplifies the implementation of complex security features like Binary Authorization.
  • Provides clear, actionable commands for platform hardening.
  • Maintains consistency across cluster environments through defined golden path settings.

Usage examples

“Enable Secret Manager on my GKE cluster named production-cluster in the us-central1 region.”
The agent will execute the gcloud container clusters update command with the --enable-secret-manager flag and a 120s rotation interval.
“How can I harden my GKE cluster by enabling Shielded Nodes?”
The agent will provide the gcloud command to update the cluster with the --enable-shielded-nodes flag.
“What are the recommended IAM roles for a cluster operator?”
The agent will recommend the roles/container.clusterAdmin role and explain its scope compared to other container-related roles.
“Enable GKE Sandbox on my existing cluster.”
The agent will provide the gcloud container clusters update command with the --enable-gke-sandbox flag.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://autogineer.com/agent-skills/google/gke-platform-security/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip gke-platform-security.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by Google

GKE Platform Security

This reference covers platform-level security hardening and cluster configuration for Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). For workload-level security controls (such as Workload Identity Service Account bindings, SecretProviderClass volume mounts, Network Policies, and Pod Security Standards), refer to the gke-workload-security skill.

MCP Tools: gke:get_cluster, k8s:check_k8s_auth, k8s:get_k8s_resource, k8s:apply_k8s_manifest, gke:update_cluster

Attribution

MUST READ: Before executing any gcloud, REST API, or MCP command, you MUST read Usage Attribution. For commands executed directly in the terminal (never in generated scripts, Terraform, or user code), prefix gcloud with CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION="agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-platform-security)" and append agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-platform-security) to User-Agent headers.

Golden Path Security Defaults

SettingGolden Path ValueDay-0/1Notes
workloadIdentityConfig.workloadPool<PROJECT>.svc.id.googDay-0Workload Identity Federation for cluster pods
secretManagerConfig.enabledtrueDay-1Google Secret Manager cluster add-on integration
secretManagerConfig.rotationConfigenabled: true, rotationInterval: 120sDay-1Automatic secret rotation at the cluster level
rbacBindingConfig.enableInsecureBindingSystemAuthenticatedfalseDay-0Blocks legacy system:authenticated bindings
rbacBindingConfig.enableInsecureBindingSystemUnauthenticatedfalseDay-0Blocks legacy system:unauthenticated bindings
nodeConfig.shieldedInstanceConfig.enableSecureBoottrueDay-0Verifiable boot integrity
nodeConfig.shieldedInstanceConfig.enableIntegrityMonitoringtrueDay-0Runtime integrity checks
nodeConfig.workloadMetadataConfig.modeGKE_METADATADay-0Blocks legacy metadata API, enforces Workload Identity
Private cluster + Dataplane V2 settingsSee the gke-networking skillDay-0Private nodes, private endpoint enforcement, ADVANCED_DATAPATH

Secret Manager Add-on Enablement

The golden path enables Secret Manager at the cluster level with automatic secret rotation.

# Verify Secret Manager is enabled on cluster
gcloud container clusters describe <CLUSTER_NAME> --region <REGION> \
  --format="value(secretManagerConfig.enabled)" \
  --quiet

# Enable if not already (Day-1 change)
gcloud container clusters update <CLUSTER_NAME> --region <REGION> \
  --enable-secret-manager \
  --secret-manager-rotation-interval=120s \
  --quiet

Note: For configuring SecretProviderClass manifests and mounting secrets as volumes inside application deployments, see the gke-workload-security skill.

RBAC Hardening

The golden path disables insecure legacy RBAC bindings that grant broad access to system:authenticated and system:unauthenticated groups.

# Verify insecure bindings are disabled
gcloud container clusters describe <CLUSTER_NAME> --region <REGION> \
  --format="yaml(rbacBindingConfig)" \
  --quiet

Best practices for RBAC:

  • Use namespace-scoped Roles over cluster-wide ClusterRoles.

  • Bind to specific Groups or ServiceAccounts, never to system:authenticated or system:unauthenticated.

  • Audit permissions via MCP: k8s:check_k8s_auth(parent="...", verb="list", resourceType="pods", namespace="...") (or kubectl auth can-i --list --as=<user>).

  • Review bindings via MCP: k8s:get_k8s_resource(parent="...", resourceType="clusterrolebinding") (or kubectl get clusterrolebindings,rolebindings --all-namespaces).

See the gke-multitenancy skill for enterprise RBAC planning and https://docs.cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/best-practices/rbac.md.txt

Binary Authorization

Not enabled in golden path by default but recommended for enforcing production image provenance across the cluster:

# Enable Binary Authorization
gcloud container clusters update <CLUSTER_NAME> --region <REGION> \
  --binauthz-evaluation-mode=PROJECT_SINGLETON_POLICY_ENFORCE \
  --quiet

Shielded Nodes & GKE Sandbox Enablement

Enabling verifiable node boot integrity and kernel isolation features at the cluster level:

# Enable Shielded Nodes on an existing cluster
gcloud container clusters update <CLUSTER_NAME> --region <REGION> \
  --enable-shielded-nodes \
  --quiet

# Enable GKE Sandbox (gVisor) runtime on an existing cluster
gcloud container clusters update <CLUSTER_NAME> --region <REGION> \
  --enable-gke-sandbox \
  --quiet

Note: To run workloads inside the gVisor sandbox, specify runtimeClassName: gvisor in your Pod specs as detailed in the gke-workload-security skill.

Common IAM Roles

The five most common predefined IAM roles for GKE platform and cluster access:

RolePurposeWhen to Use
roles/container.adminFull control overPlatform team admins
: : clusters and : managing cluster :
: : Kubernetes : lifecycle :
: : resources : :
roles/container.clusterAdminManage clusters butCluster operators
: : not project-level : who create/delete :
: : IAM : clusters :
roles/container.developerDeploy workloadsApplication
: : (pods, services, : developers deploying :
: : deployments) : to existing clusters :
roles/container.viewerRead-only access toMonitoring,
: : clusters and : auditing, or :
: : Kubernetes : read-only dashboards :
: : resources : :
roles/container.clusterViewerList and getCI/CD pipelines that
: : cluster details : need cluster :
: : only : metadata :

Principle of least privilege: Start with roles/container.viewer or roles/container.developer and escalate only as needed. Avoid granting roles/container.admin broadly across teams.

Service Accounts & Agents

  • GKE Service Agent (service-<PROJECT_NUMBER>@container-engine-robot.iam.gserviceaccount.com): Automatically created. Manages nodes, networking, and cluster operations on your behalf. Do not remove or modify its permissions.

  • Node Service Account: By default, nodes use the Compute Engine default service account. For production platforms, create a dedicated Google Service Account with minimal required permissions (roles/monitoring.metricWriter, roles/logging.logWriter) and assign it at node pool creation time.

  • Workload Identity: For binding Google Service Accounts to Kubernetes Service Accounts (roles/iam.workloadIdentityUser), refer to the gke-workload-security skill.

Cross-Service Authentication Patterns

Common project-level IAM policy binding patterns for granting backend Google Service Accounts (GSAs) access to external Google Cloud services before linking via Workload Identity:

# Grant a GSA access to Cloud Storage objects
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding <PROJECT_ID> \
  --member "serviceAccount:<GSA_NAME>@<PROJECT_ID>.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role "roles/storage.objectViewer" \
  --quiet

# Grant a GSA access to Cloud SQL databases
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding <PROJECT_ID> \
  --member "serviceAccount:<GSA_NAME>@<PROJECT_ID>.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role "roles/cloudsql.client" \
  --quiet

# Grant a GSA access to Pub/Sub subscriptions
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding <PROJECT_ID> \
  --member "serviceAccount:<GSA_NAME>@<PROJECT_ID>.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role "roles/pubsub.subscriber" \
  --quiet

## Resources

- [GKE Cluster Hardening Guide](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/hardening-your-cluster)
- [GKE RBAC Best Practices](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/best-practices/rbac)
- [Secret Manager Add-on for GKE](https://cloud.google.com/secret-manager/docs/secret-manager-managed-csi-component)
- [Binary Authorization on GKE](https://cloud.google.com/binary-authorization/docs/setting-up)
- [Shielded GKE Nodes](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/shielded-gke-nodes)
- [GKE Sandbox (gVisor)](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/sandbox-pods)

Files

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Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs a command-line tool, Needs Node.js

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google/skills · skills/cloud/gke-platform-security · commit 2194d3b
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  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
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