diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh
index fa94ee8f610..1b10d05e204 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure.sh
@@ -139,8 +139,8 @@ function install-kube-binary-config {
   if [[ "${TEST_CLUSTER:-}" == "true" ]] || \
      [[ "${builtin_version}" != "${required_version}" ]]; then
     cp "${src_dir}/kubectl" "${kube_bin}"
-    chmod 544 "${kube_bin}/kubelet"
-    chmod 544 "${kube_bin}/kubectl"
+    chmod 755 "${kube_bin}/kubelet"
+    chmod 755 "${kube_bin}/kubectl"
     mount --bind "${kube_bin}/kubelet" /usr/bin/kubelet
     mount --bind "${kube_bin}/kubectl" /usr/bin/kubectl
   else