Implementing GCP VPC Firewall Rules

When to Use

• When deploying new GCP workloads that require network-level access controls
• When auditing existing firewall configurations for overly permissive rules
• When implementing zero trust network segmentation within GCP VPC networks
• When responding to Security Command Center findings about open firewall rules
• When building hierarchical firewall policies across a GCP organization

Do not use for application-layer filtering (use Cloud Armor WAF), for DNS-based filtering (use Cloud DNS response policies), or for VPN/interconnect traffic filtering without understanding that VPC firewall rules apply to traffic within the VPC.

Prerequisites

• GCP project with Compute Engine API enabled
• IAM roles: roles/compute.securityAdmin for firewall management, roles/compute.networkViewer for auditing
• Organization Admin role for hierarchical firewall policies
• gcloud CLI authenticated with appropriate permissions
• VPC Flow Logs enabled on target subnets for monitoring

Workflow

Step 1: Audit Existing Firewall Rules for Security Gaps

Enumerate all firewall rules and identify overly permissive configurations.

# List all firewall rules in the project
gcloud compute firewall-rules list \
  --format="table(name, network, direction, priority, allowed[].map().firewall_rule().list():label=ALLOWED, sourceRanges, targetTags)"

# Find rules allowing all traffic from 0.0.0.0/0
gcloud compute firewall-rules list \
  --filter="direction=INGRESS AND sourceRanges=0.0.0.0/0" \
  --format="table(name, network, allowed, priority, targetTags)" \
  --sort-by=priority

# Find rules allowing all protocols and ports
gcloud compute firewall-rules list \
  --filter="direction=INGRESS AND allowed[].IPProtocol=all" \
  --format="table(name, network, sourceRanges, targetTags)"

# Find rules with SSH (22) or RDP (3389) open to the internet
gcloud compute firewall-rules list \
  --filter="direction=INGRESS AND sourceRanges=0.0.0.0/0 AND (allowed[].ports=22 OR allowed[].ports=3389)" \
  --format="table(name, network, allowed, sourceRanges)"

# Check for disabled rules
gcloud compute firewall-rules list \
  --filter="disabled=true" \
  --format="table(name, network, direction)"

Step 2: Create Restrictive Ingress Firewall Rules

Implement least-privilege ingress rules using network tags and service accounts for targeting.

# Create rule allowing HTTPS from the internet to web servers only
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-https-web \
  --network=production-vpc \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:443 \
  --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --target-tags=web-server \
  --priority=1000 \
  --description="Allow HTTPS to web servers from internet"

# Create rule allowing SSH only from bastion host subnet
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-ssh-bastion \
  --network=production-vpc \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:22 \
  --source-ranges=10.0.1.0/24 \
  --target-tags=ssh-allowed \
  --priority=1000 \
  --description="Allow SSH only from bastion subnet"

# Create rule allowing internal communication between app tiers
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-app-to-db \
  --network=production-vpc \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:5432 \
  --source-tags=app-server \
  --target-tags=db-server \
  --priority=1000 \
  --description="Allow PostgreSQL from app tier to database tier"

# Create service-account-based rule (more secure than tags)
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-api-internal \
  --network=production-vpc \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:8080 \
  --source-service-accounts=api-client@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --target-service-accounts=api-server@project.iam.gserviceaccount.com \
  --priority=1000

Step 3: Implement Egress Restrictions

Configure egress firewall rules to control outbound traffic and prevent data exfiltration.

# Deny all egress by default (low priority)
gcloud compute firewall-rules create deny-all-egress \
  --network=production-vpc \
  --direction=EGRESS \
  --action=DENY \
  --rules=all \
  --destination-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --priority=65534 \
  --description="Default deny all egress traffic"

# Allow egress to Google APIs via restricted VIP
gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-google-apis \
  --network=production-vpc \
  --direction=EGRESS \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:443 \

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