The correct option is The API server denies the operation and returns an HTTP "403 Forbidden" response.

This is correct because Kubernetes treats authentication and authorization as separate steps. A client can successfully authenticate and still lack permission to perform an action. In that case the authorization layer such as RBAC evaluates the request and the API server returns 403 Forbidden to indicate the caller is authenticated but not authorized to perform the requested operation.

The request is placed in a queue for manual review by a cluster operator is incorrect because the API server does not queue requests for manual approval when authorization fails. The server evaluates and rejects the request immediately and returns an HTTP error response.

The server processes the call but only returns non sensitive public information is incorrect because the API server does not partially process an unauthorized request and selectively return public data. The request is denied and the client receives an error rather than a filtered successful response.

The request is recorded in Cloud Audit Logs for later review is incorrect as the immediate API response is not to record and defer the decision. Audit logging may be configured separately and may record attempts in some environments, and Cloud Audit Logs is a GCP service rather than a general Kubernetes response. The presence of audit logs does not replace the API server returning 403 Forbidden for unauthorized requests.

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