Security Command Center Query Skill on Google Cloud

Provides guidelines and read-only gcloud CLI command patterns for querying and retrieving security findings, external exposures, toxic combinations, vulnerabilities, threats, and sensitive data risks from Security Command Center on Google Cloud.

[!IMPORTANT] There is NO gcloud scc findings describe command (Invalid choice: 'describe'). To retrieve details for a specific finding by its name, always use gcloud scc findings list with a filter on name.

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Core Execution Rules

1. Read-Only & Zero-Speculation (Parent Scope Required): Keep all executions strictly read-only. Every gcloud scc findings list or group command strictly requires an explicit {parent} scope (organizations/{id}, projects/{id}, or folders/{id}). If the parent scope is missing from the prompt and cannot be inferred from a full finding name, DO NOT run any gcloud commands (do not execute queries without parent, and never inspect gcloud config). Halt immediately before executing commands and ask the user for the parent resource scope.
2. Bounded Execution & No Runaway Loops:
   • Limit tool calls to what is strictly necessary to complete the query (typically 1 call for direct queries, or 2 calls for List → Deep Dive workflows).
   • If a command fails due to permission/auth errors, or if a specific finding query returns [], halt immediately. Do not attempt blind brute-force retries with different flags, and never search the local workspace for credentials.
3. Immediate Halt on Errors: If any command fails with PERMISSION_DENIED, IAM_PERMISSION_DENIED, credential expiration, or network timeouts, halt immediately and report the verbatim error message. Do not search the workspace for credentials or run diagnostic loops.
4. Ambiguous or Multiple Findings: If multiple finding names are provided when a single finding report is requested, or if listing returns multiple findings, do not investigate all of them or unilaterally pick one. Halt immediately without running queries and ask the user to clarify which specific finding name they want details for. If zero findings are returned from a query, report that no active findings exist and halt immediately.
5. Do Not Query Attack Path Resources: Analyze only the data present in the Security Command Center finding JSON payload. Do not run commands to describe, verify, or query underlying Google Cloud resources (such as VMs, Cloud Storage buckets, service accounts, or IAM policies).
6. Parent Scope Resolution:
   • For listing and grouping, format the parent resource path as organizations/{org_id}, projects/{project_id}, or folders/{folder_id}.
   • For deep dive queries on a specific finding name, extract the {parent} resource prefix before /sources/...:
     • organizations/{org_id}/sources/... → {parent} is organizations/{org_id}
     • folders/{folder_id}/sources/... → {parent} is folders/{folder_id}
     • projects/{project_id}/sources/... → {parent} is projects/{project_id} Extract the parent prefix regardless of whether the finding resource name is global (4-segment) or location-qualified (5-segment with /locations/{location}/). Execute the deep dive query using the extracted {parent}. Do not reject or halt on project- or folder-level findings.

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Data Residency & Regional Endpoints

When Data Residency (DRZ) is enabled, findings are stored and accessible only within their designated regional location (us, eu, or me-central2). Queries across different locations do not return findings from other regions.

1. Location Parameterization

All gcloud scc findings commands require specifying the target location via --location={location}:

• Default: global (used when data residency is not enabled or for global findings).
• Supported Regional Locations:
  • us (United States multi-region)
  • eu (European Union multi-region)
  • me-central2 (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regional location)

2. API Endpoint Overrides

When data residency (DRZ) is enabled for an organization in a regional location (us, eu, or me-central2), configure the regional API endpoint override before executing finding queries:

gcloud config set api_endpoint_overrides/securitycenter https://securitycenter.{LOCATION}.rep.googleapis.com/

Example for the European Union (eu) region:

gcloud config set api_endpoint_overrides/securitycenter https://securitycenter.eu.rep.googleapis.com/

To reset the endpoint back to default global routing:

gcloud config unset api_endpoint_overrides/securitycenter

3. Location-Qualified Finding Resource Names

Regional finding resource names include the /locations/{location}/ path segment:

• Organization-level: organizations/{org_id}/sources/{source_id}/locations/{location}/findings/{finding_id}
• Folder-level: folders/{folder_id}/sources/{source_id}/locations/{location}/findings/{finding_id}
• Project-level: projects/{project_id}/sources/{source_id}/locations/{location}/findings/{finding_id}

When performing a Deep Dive on a location-qualified finding name:

1. Extract the {parent} scope (the prefix before /sources/..., e.g., organizations/{org_id}).
2. Extract the {location} from /locations/{location}/ (e.g., eu, us, me-central2). If not present in the finding name, default to global (or the user-specified location).
3. Execute the query with --location={location} and --filter="name=\"{finding_name}\"".

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Intent-Based Query Strategies

1. Deep Dive (Specific Finding Details)

Intent: User provides a specific finding name or explicitly asks to retrieve all details for one finding.
Action: Execute gcloud scc findings list with a strict filter on name and NO --field-mask to retrieve the complete JSON payload. Specify --location={location} (default global unless a regional location is indicated or present in the finding name).

gcloud scc findings list {parent} \
  --location={location} \
  --filter="name=\"{finding_name}\"" \
  --format="json" --limit=1

2. Listing (Filtered Projection)

Intent: User wants to list active findings matching criteria without pulling full nested payloads.
Action: Use --field-mask projection to restrict output size. Specify --location={location} (default global unless querying a specific region).

gcloud scc findings list {parent} \
  --location={location} \
  --filter="{filter_expression}" \
  --field-mask="finding.name,finding.parentDisplayName,finding.findingClass,finding.category,finding.state,finding.eventTime,finding.severity,finding.resourceName" \
  --format="json" --order-by="severity,event_time desc" --limit=100

Intent / Target Finding Class	--filter Expression
All Active Findings	state="ACTIVE"
Vulnerabilities	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="VULNERABILITY"` :
Misconfigurations	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="MISCONFIGURATION"` :
Toxic Combinations	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="TOXIC_COMBINATION"` :
External Exposures	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="EXTERNAL_EXPOSURE"` :
Threats	state="ACTIVE" AND findingClass="THREAT"
Observations	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="OBSERVATION"` :
Sensitive Data Risks	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="SENSITIVE_DATA_RISK"` :
Chokepoints	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="CHOKEPOINT"` :
Posture Violations	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="POSTURE_VIOLATION"` :
Secrets	state="ACTIVE" AND findingClass="SECRET"
SCC Errors	`state="ACTIVE" AND
: : findingClass="SCC_ERROR"` :
Specific Category	state="ACTIVE" AND category="{category}"

3. Discovery & Aggregation (Grouping)

Intent: User wants high-level counts or landscape overview (e.g., "What are the most common findings?", "Show me a summary by category").
Action: Use gcloud scc findings group. Specify --location={location} (default global unless querying a specific region). Allowed fields for --group-by are strictly: resource_name, category, state, parent.

gcloud scc findings group {parent} \
  --location={location} \
  --group-by="{group_by_field}" \
  --filter="state=\"ACTIVE\"" \
  --format="json"

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Payload Analysis & Handoff

Once the finding JSON payload is retrieved:

• For TOXIC_COMBINATION Findings:
  1. Verify the attackExposure field is present and has a score > 0.
  2. Inspect the attack path nodes, edges, or referenced attackExposureResult to identify exposed resources and attack trajectories.
• For VULNERABILITY Findings:
  1. Extract CVSS scores, exploit signals (exploitationActivity, observedInTheWild, zeroDay), upstream fix status (upstreamFixAvailable), and affected package details from the vulnerability object to evaluate risk:
     • vulnerability.cve.id
     • vulnerability.cve.cvssv3.baseScore
     • vulnerability.cve.cvssv3.attackVector
     • vulnerability.cve.exploitationActivity
     • vulnerability.cve.observedInTheWild
     • vulnerability.cve.zeroDay
     • vulnerability.cve.upstreamFixAvailable
     • vulnerability.offendingPackage.packageName
     • vulnerability.offendingPackage.packageVersion
     • vulnerability.fixedPackage.packageVersion
     • vulnerability.securityBulletin.suggestedUpgradeVersion
• Handoff: Do not draft remediation plans, patch resources, or execute configuration commands. Pass the extracted finding payload to the appropriate remediation or IAM analyzer skill to manage the remediation action loop.

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Reference Schema

See finding_schema.md for the JSON structure of a Security Command Center finding.