Configure a policy using the gcloud CLI

This page provides instructions for configuring a Binary Authorization policy by using the Google Cloud CLI. As an alternative, you can also perform these tasks by using the Google Cloud console or the REST API. This step is part of setting up Binary Authorization.

To configure a policy using the command-line tool, you export the existing policy as a YAML file. After you modify the file, you can import it to update the policy, as described later in this guide. For more information on the policy YAML format, see Policy YAML Reference.

Before you begin

  1. Enable Binary Authorization.
  2. Create a cluster.
  3. If you intend to use attestations, we recommend that you create attestors before configuring the policy. You can create attestors using a command-line tool or through the Google Cloud console.

  4. Set the project ID to the project in which you enabled Binary Authorization:

    PROJECT_ID=PROJECT_ID
gcloud config set project ${PROJECT_ID}

Export the policy YAML file

This section applies to GKE, Distributed Cloud, Cloud Run, and Cloud Service Mesh.

To update the policy, first export it to a local YAML file, as follows:

gcloud container binauthz policy export > /tmp/policy.yaml

By default, the file contents look similar to the following:

defaultAdmissionRule:
  enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
  evaluationMode: ALWAYS_ALLOW
globalPolicyEvaluationMode: ENABLE
name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policy

To modify the policy, edit the file and add or update sections, as described later in this guide. After you save the file, you can import the policy.

To add an exempt image to the allowlist, add the following to the policy file: 

admissionWhitelistPatterns:
  - namePattern: EXEMPT_IMAGE_PATH

Replace EXEMPT_IMAGE_PATH with the path to am image to exempt. To exempt additional images, add additional - namePattern entries. Learn more about admissionWhitelistPatterns.

Set the default rule

This section applies to GKE, Distributed Cloud, Cloud Run, and Cloud Service Mesh.

A rule is the part of a policy that defines constraints that container images must satisfy before they can be deployed. The default rule defines constraints that apply to all non-exempt images that don't have their own cluster-specific rule. Every policy must have a default rule.

The default rule is defined in the defaultAdmissionRule node in the policy YAML file. For more information on the parts of this rule, see ADMISSION_RULE in the Policy YAML Reference. For examples of default rules, see Example Policies.

To set the default rule, edit the defaultAdmissionRule node in the policy.yaml file as required:

defaultAdmissionRule:
  evaluationMode: EVALUATION_MODE
  enforcementMode: ENFORCEMENT_MODE
  requireAttestationsBy:
  - ATTESTOR
  - ...

Replace the following:

  • EVALUATION_MODE: The evaluation mode specifies the type of constraint that the Binary Authorization enforcer enforces at deploy time. Replace EVALUATION_MODE with one of the following options:

    • ALWAYS_ALLOW: Allows all images to be deployed.
    • ALWAYS_DENY: Disallows all images from being deployed.
    • REQUIRE_ATTESTATION: Allows an image to be deployed if the image has one or more attestations that can be verified by all of the attestors that you add to this rule. At deploy time, the enforcer verifies the attestation using the attestors you add to the ATTESTOR list in this rule. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors. If you specify REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttestationsBy block containing at least one attestor. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

  • ENFORCEMENT_MODE: The enforcement mode specifies how the enforcer responds when an image violates a rule. Replace ENFORCEMENT_MODE with one of the following:

    • ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG: Block images that violate the rule and log information about the violation to Cloud Audit Logs (default).
    • DRYRUN_AUDIT_LOG_ONLY: Allow all images to deploy but log enforcement information, including information about violations, to Cloud Audit Logs.

  • ATTESTOR: If you set EVALUATION_MODE to REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttesationsBy block. In the block, you list one or more attestors, by resource ID. The resource ID has the format:

    projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/ATTESTOR_NAME.

    To learn more about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

Manage exempt images

This section applies to GKE, Distributed Cloud, Cloud Run, and Cloud Service Mesh.

An exempt image is an image that is exempt from policy rules. Binary Authorization always allows exempt images to be deployed.

You specify exempt images by listing their registry paths in admissionWhitelistPatterns. The path refers to Container Registry or another image registry. At deploy time, Binary Authorization exempts the list of images specified by admissionWhitelistPatterns after the images specified by the system policy.

To add an exempt image, add a namePattern node under an admissionWhitelistPatterns list in the policy.yaml file:

admissionWhitelistPatterns:
- namePattern: MATCHING_PATTERN

Replace MATCHING_PATTERN with the path to a single image in your registry by exact match, or to any images matching a pattern using the wildcard symbol (*, **).

Cloud Run

This section applies to Cloud Run.

You cannot directly specify image names that contain a tag. For example, you cannot specify IMAGE_PATH:latest.

If you want to specify image names that contain tags, you must specify the image name using a wildcard as follows:

  • * for all versions of a single image; for example, us-docker.pkg.dev/myproject/container/hello@*
  • ** for all images in a project; for example, us-docker.pkg.dev/myproject/**

You can use path names to specify a digest in the format IMAGE_PATH@DIGEST.

System policy evaluation mode

This section applies to GKE and Distributed Cloud.

System policy evaluation mode is a policy setting that causes Binary Authorization to evaluate a system policy before evaluating the policy that you configure. Google manages the system policy, which exempts a list of Google-maintained system images that GKE uses. Images listed in the system policy are not blocked by policy enforcement. If you do not enable the setting, you must manage the list of exempt images yourself. Learn how to Manage exempt images.

You can view the contents of the system policy using the following command:

gcloud alpha container binauthz policy export-system-policy

To enable system policy evaluation mode, add the following line to the policy.yaml file:

globalPolicyEvaluationMode: ENABLE

To disable system policy evaluation mode, add the following:

globalPolicyEvaluationMode: DISABLE

You can export the system policy associated with a specific region as follows:

gcloud alpha container binauthz policy export-system-policy \
  --location=REGION > /tmp/policy.yaml

Replace REGION with the region associated with the system policy that you want to export (or "global"). Examples include: asia-east1, europe-west1, us-central1.

If you omit --location or specify --location=global, the command outputs a system policy from a region in the last group of regions to receive updates. Since most changes to the system policy are additions, the output shows the set of system images that are currently allowed in all regions.

Set cluster-specific rules (optional)

This section applies to GKE and Distributed Cloud.

A cluster can also have one or more cluster-specific rules. This type of rule applies to images that are to be deployed to specific GKE clusters only. Cluster-specific rules are an optional part of a policy.

Cluster-specific rules are defined in clusterAdmissionRules nodes in the policy YAML file. For more information on the parts of this rule, see ADMISSION_RULE in the Policy YAML Reference. For an example, see Use a cluster-specific rule in Example Policies.

To add a cluster-specific rule:

In the policy.yaml file, add a clusterAdmissionRules node:

clusterAdmissionRules:
  CLUSTER_SPECIFIER:
    evaluationMode: EVALUATION_MODE
    enforcementMode: ENFORCEMENT_MODE
    requireAttestationsBy:
    - ATTESTOR
    - ...

Replace the following:

  • CLUSTER_SPECIFIER: the resource ID of the cluster to which the rule applies. You format the rule as follows:

    • For GKE, GKE attached clusters, and GKE on AWS, the format is CLUSTER_LOCATION.CLUSTER_NAME—for example, us-central1-a.test-cluster.

    • For Google Distributed Cloud software (GKE clusters on bare metal or VMware), the format is, FLEET_MEMBERSHIP_LOCATION.FLEET_MEMBERSHIP_ID—for example, global.test-membership.

      Other properties are as described in Set the default rule earlier in this guide. For an example of a cluster-specific rule, see Example Policies.

  • EVALUATION_MODE: The evaluation mode specifies the type of constraint that the Binary Authorization enforcer enforces at deploy time. Replace EVALUATION_MODE with one of the following options:

    • ALWAYS_ALLOW: Allows all images to be deployed.
    • ALWAYS_DENY: Disallows all images from being deployed.
    • REQUIRE_ATTESTATION: Allows an image to be deployed if the image has one or more attestations that can be verified by all of the attestors that you add to this rule. At deploy time, the enforcer verifies the attestation using the attestors you add to the ATTESTOR list in this rule. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors. If you specify REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttestationsBy block containing at least one attestor. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

  • ENFORCEMENT_MODE: The enforcement mode specifies how the enforcer responds when an image violates a rule. Replace ENFORCEMENT_MODE with one of the following:

    • ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG: Block images that violate the rule and log information about the violation to Cloud Audit Logs (default).
    • DRYRUN_AUDIT_LOG_ONLY: Allow all images to deploy but log enforcement information, including information about violations, to Cloud Audit Logs.

  • ATTESTOR: If you set EVALUATION_MODE to REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttesationsBy block. In the block, you list one or more attestors, by resource ID. The resource ID has the format:

    projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/ATTESTOR_NAME.

    To learn more about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

Set specific rules (optional)

You can create rules that are scoped to either a mesh service identity, a Kubernetes service account, or a Kubernetes namespace.

Set a rule for a Cloud Service Mesh service identity

To set a rule for a Cloud Service Mesh service identity, edit your policy.yaml file and add an istioServiceIdentityAdmissionRules block, for example:

defaultAdmissionRule:
  enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
  evaluationMode: ALWAYS_DENY
globalPolicyEvaluationMode: ENABLE
istioServiceIdentityAdmissionRules:
  SERVICE_IDENTITY_ID:
    enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
    evaluationMode: ENFORCEMENT_MODE
    requireAttestationsBy:
    - <var>ATTESTOR</var>
    - ...

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policy

Replace the following:

  • SERVICE_IDENTITY_ID: the Cloud Service Mesh service identity to scope this rule to. The service identity has the following format: PROJECT_ID.svc.id.goog/ns/NAMESPACE/sa/SERVICE_ACCOUNT. In the service identity ID, replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: the project ID in which you define your Kubernetes resources.
    • NAMESPACE: the Kubernetes namespace.
    • SERVICE_ACCOUNT: the service account.

  • EVALUATION_MODE: The evaluation mode specifies the type of constraint that the Binary Authorization enforcer enforces at deploy time. Replace EVALUATION_MODE with one of the following options:

    • ALWAYS_ALLOW: Allows all images to be deployed.
    • ALWAYS_DENY: Disallows all images from being deployed.
    • REQUIRE_ATTESTATION: Allows an image to be deployed if the image has one or more attestations that can be verified by all of the attestors that you add to this rule. At deploy time, the enforcer verifies the attestation using the attestors you add to the ATTESTOR list in this rule. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors. If you specify REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttestationsBy block containing at least one attestor. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

  • ENFORCEMENT_MODE: The enforcement mode specifies how the enforcer responds when an image violates a rule. Replace ENFORCEMENT_MODE with one of the following:

    • ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG: Block images that violate the rule and log information about the violation to Cloud Audit Logs (default).
    • DRYRUN_AUDIT_LOG_ONLY: Allow all images to deploy but log enforcement information, including information about violations, to Cloud Audit Logs.

  • ATTESTOR: If you set EVALUATION_MODE to REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttesationsBy block. In the block, you list one or more attestors, by resource ID. The resource ID has the format:

    projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/ATTESTOR_NAME.

    To learn more about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

Set a rule for a Kubernetes service account

To set a rule for a Kubernetes service account, edit your policy.yaml file and add a kubernetesServiceAccountAdmissionRules block, for example:

defaultAdmissionRule:
  enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
  evaluationMode: ALWAYS_DENY
globalPolicyEvaluationMode: ENABLE
kubernetesServiceAccountAdmissionRules:
  KUBERNETES_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID:
    enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
    evaluationMode: ENFORCEMENT_MODE
    requireAttestationsBy:
    - <var>ATTESTOR</var>
    - ...
name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policy

Replace the following:

  • KUBERNETES_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_ID: The Kubernetes service account to scope the rule to. This service account ID has the format: NAMESPACE:SERVICE_ACCOUNT. In the service account ID, replace the following:

    • NAMESPACE: the Kubernetes namespace.
    • SERVICE_ACCOUNT: the service account name.

  • EVALUATION_MODE: The evaluation mode specifies the type of constraint that the Binary Authorization enforcer enforces at deploy time. Replace EVALUATION_MODE with one of the following options:

    • ALWAYS_ALLOW: Allows all images to be deployed.
    • ALWAYS_DENY: Disallows all images from being deployed.
    • REQUIRE_ATTESTATION: Allows an image to be deployed if the image has one or more attestations that can be verified by all of the attestors that you add to this rule. At deploy time, the enforcer verifies the attestation using the attestors you add to the ATTESTOR list in this rule. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors. If you specify REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttestationsBy block containing at least one attestor. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

  • ENFORCEMENT_MODE: The enforcement mode specifies how the enforcer responds when an image violates a rule. Replace ENFORCEMENT_MODE with one of the following:

    • ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG: Block images that violate the rule and log information about the violation to Cloud Audit Logs (default).
    • DRYRUN_AUDIT_LOG_ONLY: Allow all images to deploy but log enforcement information, including information about violations, to Cloud Audit Logs.

  • ATTESTOR: If you set EVALUATION_MODE to REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttesationsBy block. In the block, you list one or more attestors, by resource ID. The resource ID has the format:

    projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/ATTESTOR_NAME.

    To learn more about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

Set a rule for a Kubernetes namespace

To set a rule for a Kubernetes namespace, edit your policy.yaml file and add a kubernetesNamespaceAdmissionRules block, for example:

defaultAdmissionRule:
  enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
  evaluationMode: ALWAYS_DENY
globalPolicyEvaluationMode: ENABLE
kubernetesNamespaceAdmissionRules:
  KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE:
    enforcementMode: ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG
    evaluationMode: EVALUATION_MODE
    requireAttestationsBy:
    - <var>ATTESTOR</var>
    - ...
name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policy

Replace the following:

  • KUBERNETES_NAMESPACE: The Kubernetes namespace to scope this rule to.

  • EVALUATION_MODE: The evaluation mode specifies the type of constraint that the Binary Authorization enforcer enforces at deploy time. Replace EVALUATION_MODE with one of the following options:

    • ALWAYS_ALLOW: Allows all images to be deployed.
    • ALWAYS_DENY: Disallows all images from being deployed.
    • REQUIRE_ATTESTATION: Allows an image to be deployed if the image has one or more attestations that can be verified by all of the attestors that you add to this rule. At deploy time, the enforcer verifies the attestation using the attestors you add to the ATTESTOR list in this rule. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors. If you specify REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttestationsBy block containing at least one attestor. To learn about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

  • ENFORCEMENT_MODE: The enforcement mode specifies how the enforcer responds when an image violates a rule. Replace ENFORCEMENT_MODE with one of the following:

    • ENFORCED_BLOCK_AND_AUDIT_LOG: Block images that violate the rule and log information about the violation to Cloud Audit Logs (default).
    • DRYRUN_AUDIT_LOG_ONLY: Allow all images to deploy but log enforcement information, including information about violations, to Cloud Audit Logs.

  • ATTESTOR: If you set EVALUATION_MODE to REQUIRE_ATTESTATION, you must also add a requireAttesationsBy block. In the block, you list one or more attestors, by resource ID. The resource ID has the format:

    projects/PROJECT_ID/attestors/ATTESTOR_NAME.

    To learn more about creating attestors, see Creating attestors.

Import the policy YAML file

This section applies to GKE, Distributed Cloud, Cloud Run, and Cloud Service Mesh.

Import the policy YAML file back into Binary Authorization by entering the following:

gcloud container binauthz policy import /tmp/policy.yaml

What's next