Implement GCP Binary Authorization to enforce deploy-time security controls that ensure only trusted, attested container images are deployed to Google Kubernetes Engine and Cloud Run.
Binary Authorization is a Google Cloud deploy-time security control that ensures only trusted container images are deployed on GKE or Cloud Run. It works through a policy-based model where images must have cryptographic attestations confirming they passed predefined requirements such as vulnerability scans, code reviews, or build pipeline verification. Continuous validation (CV) monitors running pods against policies and logs violations.
# Enable required APIs
gcloud services enable binaryauthorization.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable containeranalysis.googleapis.com
gcloud services enable container.googleapis.com
# Enable Binary Authorization on GKE cluster
gcloud container clusters update CLUSTER_NAME \
--enable-binauthz \
--zone us-central1-a
# Create keyring
gcloud kms keyrings create binauthz-keyring \
--location global
# Create signing key
gcloud kms keys create attestor-key \
--keyring binauthz-keyring \
--location global \
--algorithm ec-sign-p256-sha256 \
--purpose asymmetric-signing
cat > /tmp/note.json << 'EOF'
{
"attestation": {
"hint": {
"humanReadableName": "Production Build Attestor"
}
}
}
EOF
curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
"https://containeranalysis.googleapis.com/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/notes/?noteId=prod-build-note" \
-d @/tmp/note.json
gcloud container binauthz attestors create prod-build-attestor \
--attestation-authority-note=prod-build-note \
--attestation-authority-note-project=PROJECT_ID
# Add KMS key to attestor
gcloud container binauthz attestors public-keys add \
--attestor=prod-build-attestor \
--keyversion-project=PROJECT_ID \
--keyversion-location=global \
--keyversion-keyring=binauthz-keyring \
--keyversion-key=attestor-key \
--keyversion=1
# binauthz-policy.yaml
admissionWhitelistPatterns:
- namePattern: "gcr.io/google_containers/*"
- namePattern: "gcr.io/google-containers/*"
- namePattern: "k8s.gcr.io/**"
- namePattern: "gke.gcr.io/**"
- namePattern: "gcr.io/stackdriver-agents/*"
defaultAdmissionRule:
evaluationMode: REQUIRE_ATTESTATION
enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
requireAttestationsBy:
- projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/prod-build-attestor
globalPolicyEvaluationMode: ENABLE
gcloud container binauthz policy import binauthz-policy.yaml
admissionWhitelistPatterns:
- namePattern: "gcr.io/google_containers/*"
clusterAdmissionRules:
us-central1-a.production-cluster:
evaluationMode: REQUIRE_ATTESTATION
enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
requireAttestationsBy:
- projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/prod-build-attestor
us-central1-a.staging-cluster:
evaluationMode: ALWAYS_ALLOW
enforcementMode: DRYRUN_AUDIT_LOG_ONLY
defaultAdmissionRule:
evaluationMode: ALWAYS_DENY
enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
# Get image digest
IMAGE_DIGEST=$(gcloud container images describe \
gcr.io/PROJECT_ID/my-app:latest \
--format='get(image_summary.digest)')
# Create attestation
gcloud container binauthz attestations sign-and-create \
--artifact-url="gcr.io/PROJECT_ID/my-app@${IMAGE_DIGEST}" \
--attestor="prod-build-attestor" \
--attestor-project="PROJECT_ID" \
--keyversion-project="PROJECT_ID" \
--keyversion-location="global" \
--keyversion-keyring="binauthz-keyring" \
--keyversion-key="attestor-key" \
--keyversion="1"
# cloudbuild.yaml