GCP VM OS Login Not Enabled
SSH access is granted by keys in metadata rather than by identity, so removing a person's access does not reliably remove their key.
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Google Cloud
Found, explained, handed over.
Where the estate departs from your policies, frameworks and tagging rules.
Detect
ZopNight checks this automatically across Google Cloud, with read-only access to the account.
Explain
Every finding says exactly what to change: Enable OS Login on Compute Engine VM.
Fix
The finding opens with the fix already written out, step by step, so it is one ticket, not an investigation.
- Applies to
- Compute Engine on Google Cloud
- The fix, by hand
- Open Cloud Console → Compute Engine → Metadata → Set enable-oslogin = TRUE at the project level (recommended) or per-VM Edit → Custom metadata.
- Grant users one of: roles/compute.osLogin (non-sudo) or roles/compute.osAdminLogin (sudo).
- Remove any project-level / instance-level SSH keys in Metadata. They bypass OS Login.
- (Optional, 2FA) Enable enable-oslogin-2fa = TRUE and enrol users in Google 2-Step Verification.
- Test SSH: gcloud compute ssh ‹name›. Login uses POSIX accounts derived from IAM identity.
These are the steps the finding carries in the product.
- Category
- Compliance. Configuration drift from best practice: public access, missing MFA, unencrypted storage, deprecated runtimes.
- Where it appears
- The Compliance tab of Recommendations, with every affected resource listed.
- Rule ID
RC-1202- Full reference
Related checks
See the compliance findings in your account.
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