Quick Answer
The correct answer is roles/run.developer and roles/run.viewer. These two IAM roles together enforce least privilege for Cloud Run by separating read-only monitoring from active management, ensuring the team can view service configurations and revisions without unnecessary write access, while the developer role permits deploying revisions and updating configurations without granting broader project-level permissions. On the Google Professional Cloud Security Engineer exam, this tests your understanding of granular IAM role design for serverless services, often appearing as a scenario where a candidate must avoid over-privileged roles like roles/owner or roles/editor. A common trap is selecting roles/run.admin, which grants full control over Cloud Run and associated resources like IAM policies, violating least privilege. Memory tip: think "Viewer to see, Developer to deploy" — the viewer role handles monitoring, while the developer role handles management, and neither touches other GCP services.
This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of configuring access within a cloud solution environment. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company wants to implement least privilege access for a team that needs to monitor and manage Cloud Run services. Which two IAM roles should be considered? (Choose two.)
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "least"
Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
roles/iam.serviceAccountUser
Why wrong: Not needed for Cloud Run management.
roles/run.admin
Why wrong: Too permissive; includes all Cloud Run permissions.
roles/run.viewer
Allows viewing services and configurations.
roles/run.developer
Allows managing Cloud Run services.
roles/run.invoker
Why wrong: Only allows invoking services, not management.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
roles/run.viewer
Option C (roles/run.viewer) is correct because it grants read-only permissions to view Cloud Run services, configurations, and revisions, which is sufficient for monitoring without allowing modifications. Option D (roles/run.developer) is correct because it allows both viewing and managing Cloud Run services (e.g., deploying new revisions, updating configurations) while still restricting access to other GCP resources, aligning with least privilege for a team that needs to both monitor and manage.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
roles/iam.serviceAccountUser
Why it's wrong here
Not needed for Cloud Run management.
roles/run.admin
Why it's wrong here
Too permissive; includes all Cloud Run permissions.
roles/run.viewer
Why this is correct
Allows viewing services and configurations.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
roles/run.developer
Why this is correct
Allows managing Cloud Run services.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
roles/run.invoker
Why it's wrong here
Only allows invoking services, not management.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between 'viewer' and 'developer' roles, where candidates mistakenly choose 'run.admin' thinking it is needed for management, or 'run.invoker' thinking it covers monitoring, but the exam expects precise matching of permissions to the tasks of monitoring (read-only) and managing (deploy/update) without full administrative control.
Detailed technical explanation
Cloud Run IAM roles are predefined with granular permissions; for example, roles/run.viewer includes run.services.get, run.revisions.list, and run.configurations.get, while roles/run.developer adds run.services.update and run.revisions.create. Under the hood, these roles are evaluated against the Cloud Run API's resource hierarchy, and the principle of least privilege is enforced by granting only the minimum set of permissions needed—avoiding roles like run.admin which includes run.services.delete and run.services.setIamPolicy. In a real-world scenario, a DevOps team might use roles/run.developer to deploy new revisions via CI/CD pipelines while relying on roles/run.viewer for dashboards and monitoring tools like Cloud Monitoring.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Configuring access within a cloud solution environment — This question tests Configuring access within a cloud solution environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: roles/run.viewer — Option C (roles/run.viewer) is correct because it grants read-only permissions to view Cloud Run services, configurations, and revisions, which is sufficient for monitoring without allowing modifications. Option D (roles/run.developer) is correct because it allows both viewing and managing Cloud Run services (e.g., deploying new revisions, updating configurations) while still restricting access to other GCP resources, aligning with least privilege for a team that needs to both monitor and manage.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Yes — watch for: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This PCSE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PCSE exam.
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