diff --git a/cmd/containerboot/kube.go b/cmd/containerboot/kube.go
index 04b988f34..5a0d6d6a4 100644
--- a/cmd/containerboot/kube.go
+++ b/cmd/containerboot/kube.go
@@ -23,6 +23,54 @@ import (
 	"time"
 )
 
+// checkSecretPermissions checks that the current pod has permission to read,
+// write and patch secretName in the cluster.
+func checkSecretPermissions(ctx context.Context, secretName string) error {
+	for _, verb := range []string{"get", "update", "patch"} {
+		sar := map[string]any{
+			"apiVersion": "authorization.k8s.io/v1",
+			"kind":       "SelfSubjectAccessReview",
+			"spec": map[string]any{
+				"resourceAttributes": map[string]any{
+					"namespace": kubeNamespace,
+					"verb":      verb,
+					"resource":  "secrets",
+					"name":      secretName,
+				},
+			},
+		}
+		bs, err := json.Marshal(sar)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		req, err := http.NewRequest("POST", "/apis/authorization.k8s.io/v1/selfsubjectaccessreviews", bytes.NewReader(bs))
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		resp, err := doKubeRequest(ctx, req)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		defer resp.Body.Close()
+		bs, err = io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		var res struct {
+			Status struct {
+				Allowed bool `json:"allowed"`
+			} `json:"status"`
+		}
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(bs, &res); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !res.Status.Allowed {
+			return fmt.Errorf("missing permission: cannot %s secret %q", verb, secretName)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // findKeyInKubeSecret inspects the kube secret secretName for a data
 // field called "authkey", and returns its value if present.
 func findKeyInKubeSecret(ctx context.Context, secretName string) (string, error) {
@@ -193,8 +241,8 @@ func doKubeRequest(ctx context.Context, r *http.Request) (*http.Response, error)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return resp, fmt.Errorf("got non-200 status code %d", resp.StatusCode)
+	if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK && resp.StatusCode != http.StatusCreated {
+		return resp, fmt.Errorf("got non-200/201 status code %d", resp.StatusCode)
 	}
 	return resp, nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/containerboot/main.go b/cmd/containerboot/main.go
index 28f952b1b..583de3e3a 100644
--- a/cmd/containerboot/main.go
+++ b/cmd/containerboot/main.go
@@ -116,16 +116,21 @@ func main() {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 60*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 
-	if cfg.InKubernetes && cfg.KubeSecret != "" && cfg.AuthKey == "" {
-		key, err := findKeyInKubeSecret(ctx, cfg.KubeSecret)
-		if err != nil {
-			log.Fatalf("Getting authkey from kube secret: %v", err)
+	if cfg.InKubernetes && cfg.KubeSecret != "" {
+		if err := checkSecretPermissions(ctx, cfg.KubeSecret); err != nil {
+			log.Fatalf("Some Kubernetes permissions are missing, please check your RBAC configuration: %v", err)
 		}
-		if key != "" {
-			log.Print("Using authkey found in kube secret")
-			cfg.AuthKey = key
-		} else {
-			log.Print("No authkey found in kube secret and TS_AUTHKEY not provided, login will be interactive if needed.")
+		if cfg.AuthKey == "" {
+			key, err := findKeyInKubeSecret(ctx, cfg.KubeSecret)
+			if err != nil {
+				log.Fatalf("Getting authkey from kube secret: %v", err)
+			}
+			if key != "" {
+				log.Print("Using authkey found in kube secret")
+				cfg.AuthKey = key
+			} else {
+				log.Print("No authkey found in kube secret and TS_AUTHKEY not provided, login will be interactive if needed.")
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/containerboot/main_test.go b/cmd/containerboot/main_test.go
index 4b5bfd043..95a616e32 100644
--- a/cmd/containerboot/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/containerboot/main_test.go
@@ -784,6 +784,12 @@ func (k *kubeServer) ServeHTTP(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	if r.Header.Get("Authorization") != "Bearer bearer_token" {
 		panic("client didn't provide bearer token in request")
 	}
+	if r.URL.Path == "/apis/authorization.k8s.io/v1/selfsubjectaccessreviews" {
+		// Just say yes to all SARs, we don't enforce RBAC.
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		fmt.Fprintln(w, `{"status":{"allowed":true}}`)
+		return
+	}
 	if r.URL.Path != "/api/v1/namespaces/default/secrets/tailscale" {
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("unhandled fake kube api path %q", r.URL.Path))
 	}