PERMISSION_DENIED
GCP PERMISSION_DENIED means the caller identity is recognized, but IAM or policy controls block the requested action on the target resource.
Last reviewed: February 2, 2026|Editorial standard: source-backed technical guidance
What Does Permission Denied Mean?
Authenticated traffic is reaching Google Cloud, but authorization evaluation fails, so the operation is blocked until policy or scope issues are corrected.
Common Causes
- -The principal lacks one or more required permissions at the evaluated resource scope.
- -A conditional allow binding exists, but request context does not satisfy the condition expression.
- -A deny policy, Org Policy control, or service-perimeter restriction blocks the call path.
- -The request is pointed at the wrong project, folder, organization, or resource name.
How to Fix Permission Denied
- 1Capture denied
permissionand full resource name from error details and Cloud Audit Logs. - 2Run IAM Policy Troubleshooter for the same principal, permission, and resource tuple.
- 3Apply the smallest required role at the correct hierarchy level and resolve conflicting deny or condition rules.
- 4Retest after policy propagation using the same identity and unchanged request parameters.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis for Permission Denied
- 1Record principal identity, denied permission, and full resource name from the failing response payload.
- 2Inspect effective IAM bindings on resource, project, folder, and organization ancestry.
- 3Evaluate deny policies, IAM Conditions, and perimeter constraints that apply to this principal path.
- 4Replay the same request after targeted role or policy changes and compare audit-log authorization traces.
Effective IAM and Condition Evaluation
- -Audit inherited bindings and conditional expressions for the exact permission (example:
roles/storage.objectViewerbound with time-based condition now evaluates false). - -Use Policy Troubleshooter output to identify the decisive allow/deny decision path (example: principal has project-level role, but folder-level deny blocks
resourcemanager.projects.get).
Boundary and Scope Controls
- -Verify request scope points to the intended resource hierarchy node (example: service account calls project B while role exists only in project A).
- -Inspect perimeter and organization controls before changing IAM (example: VPC Service Controls egress rule blocks API despite valid role).
How to Verify the Fix
- -Re-run the denied operation and confirm it succeeds with the same principal and resource target.
- -Validate Cloud Audit Logs now show an allow decision for the previously blocked permission.
- -Confirm adjacent privileged operations remain least-privilege and no unintended overgrant was introduced.
How to Prevent Recurrence
- -Codify IAM changes with review gates that evaluate conditions, deny interactions, and hierarchy inheritance.
- -Run policy simulation checks in CI/CD before promoting authorization changes to production.
- -Alert on repeated PERMISSION_DENIED spikes by principal, permission, and resource family.
Pro Tip
- -persist the exact
principal + permission + resourcetuple from each denial and use it as a deterministic regression test in policy pipelines.
Decision Support
Compare Guide
AWS AccessDenied vs GCP PERMISSION_DENIED (403)
Compare AWS AccessDenied and GCP PERMISSION_DENIED to isolate authorization deny layers, separate auth failures, and apply precise IAM fixes fast.
Compare Guide
401 Unauthorized vs 403 Forbidden: Auth vs Access Denied
Fix 401 Unauthorized vs 403 Forbidden by separating authentication failures from authorization denials, then apply the right login or permission fix fast.
Playbook
Authorization Denial Playbook (403 / AccessDenied / PERMISSION_DENIED)
Use this playbook to triage policy-based access denials after authentication succeeds, isolate the deny layer, and apply least-privilege remediation safely.
Playbook
CORS Error Fix Playbook (Preflight / Origin / Credentials)
Use this playbook to separate browser-enforced cross-origin policy failures from server-side CORS header and route defects and apply strict origin and credential controls safely.
Official References
Provider Context
This guidance is specific to GCP services. Always validate implementation details against official provider documentation before deploying to production.