diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1809.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1809.xml
index f57fd75c782d..d3062b3ea323 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1809.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1809.xml
@@ -306,6 +306,22 @@ inherit (pkgs.nixos {
      was not used and thus has been removed.
     </para>
    </listitem>
+   <listitem>
+    <para>
+     The option <varname>services.kubernetes.addons.dashboard.enableRBAC</varname>
+     was renamed to <varname>services.kubernetes.addons.dashboard.rbac.enable</varname>.
+    </para>
+   </listitem>
+   <listitem>
+    <para>
+     The Kubernetes Dashboard now has only minimal RBAC permissions by default.
+     If dashboard cluster-admin rights are desired,
+     set <varname>services.kubernetes.addons.dashboard.rbac.clusterAdmin</varname> to true.
+     On existing clusters, in order for the revocation of privileges to take effect,
+     the current ClusterRoleBinding for kubernetes-dashboard must be manually removed:
+     <literal>kubectl delete clusterrolebinding kubernetes-dashboard</literal>
+    </para>
+   </listitem>
   </itemizedlist>
  </section>
 </section>
diff --git a/nixos/modules/rename.nix b/nixos/modules/rename.nix
index 2df737452fbc..e3691843e170 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/rename.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/rename.nix
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ with lib;
     (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "services" "kubernetes" "apiserver" "admissionControl" ] [ "services" "kubernetes" "apiserver" "enableAdmissionPlugins" ])
     (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "services" "kubernetes" "apiserver" "address" ] ["services" "kubernetes" "apiserver" "bindAddress"])
     (mkRemovedOptionModule [ "services" "kubernetes" "apiserver" "publicAddress" ] "")
+    (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "services" "kubernetes" "addons" "dashboard" "enableRBAC" ] [ "services" "kubernetes" "addons" "dashboard" "rbac" "enable" ])
     (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "services" "logstash" "address" ] [ "services" "logstash" "listenAddress" ])
     (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "services" "mpd" "network" "host" ] [ "services" "mpd" "network" "listenAddress" ])
     (mkRenamedOptionModule [ "services" "neo4j" "host" ] [ "services" "neo4j" "listenAddress" ])
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/dashboard.nix b/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/dashboard.nix
index 9c1f814b683c..6d9faada4401 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/dashboard.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/cluster/kubernetes/dashboard.nix
@@ -8,10 +8,25 @@ in {
   options.services.kubernetes.addons.dashboard = {
     enable = mkEnableOption "kubernetes dashboard addon";
 
-    enableRBAC = mkOption {
-      description = "Whether to enable role based access control is enabled for kubernetes dashboard";
-      type = types.bool;
-      default = elem "RBAC" config.services.kubernetes.apiserver.authorizationMode;
+    rbac = mkOption {
+      description = "Role-based access control (RBAC) options";
+      type = types.submodule {
+
+        options = {
+          enable = mkOption {
+            description = "Whether to enable role based access control is enabled for kubernetes dashboard";
+            type = types.bool;
+            default = elem "RBAC" config.services.kubernetes.apiserver.authorizationMode;
+          };
+
+          clusterAdmin = mkOption {
+            description = "Whether to assign cluster admin rights to the kubernetes dashboard";
+            type = types.bool;
+            default = false;
+          };
+          
+        };
+      };
     };
 
     version = mkOption {
@@ -202,29 +217,106 @@ in {
           namespace = "kube-system";
         };
       };
-    } // (optionalAttrs cfg.enableRBAC {
-      kubernetes-dashboard-crb = {
-        apiVersion = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1";
-        kind = "ClusterRoleBinding";
-        metadata = {
-          name = "kubernetes-dashboard";
-          labels = {
-            k8s-app = "kubernetes-dashboard";
-            k8s-addon = "kubernetes-dashboard.addons.k8s.io";
-            "addonmanager.kubernetes.io/mode" = "Reconcile";
-          };
-        };
-        roleRef = {
-          apiGroup = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io";
-          kind = "ClusterRole";
-          name = "cluster-admin";
-        };
+    } // (optionalAttrs cfg.rbac.enable
+      (let
         subjects = [{
           kind = "ServiceAccount";
           name = "kubernetes-dashboard";
           namespace = "kube-system";
         }];
-      };
-    });
+        labels = {
+          k8s-app = "kubernetes-dashboard";
+          k8s-addon = "kubernetes-dashboard.addons.k8s.io";
+          "addonmanager.kubernetes.io/mode" = "Reconcile";
+        };
+      in
+        (if cfg.rbac.clusterAdmin then {
+          kubernetes-dashboard-crb = {
+            apiVersion = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1";
+            kind = "ClusterRoleBinding";
+            metadata = {
+              name = "kubernetes-dashboard";
+              inherit labels;
+            };
+            roleRef = {
+              apiGroup = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io";
+              kind = "ClusterRole";
+              name = "cluster-admin";
+            };
+            inherit subjects;
+          };
+        }
+        else
+        {
+          # Upstream role- and rolebinding as per:
+          # https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/dashboard/master/src/deploy/alternative/kubernetes-dashboard.yaml
+          kubernetes-dashboard-role = {
+            apiVersion = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1";
+            kind = "Role";
+            metadata = {
+              name = "kubernetes-dashboard-minimal";
+              namespace = "kube-system";
+              inherit labels;
+            };
+            rules = [
+              # Allow Dashboard to create 'kubernetes-dashboard-key-holder' secret.
+              {
+                apiGroups = [""];
+                resources = ["secrets"];
+                verbs = ["create"];
+              }
+              # Allow Dashboard to create 'kubernetes-dashboard-settings' config map.
+              {
+                apiGroups = [""];
+                resources = ["configmaps"];
+                verbs = ["create"];
+              }
+              # Allow Dashboard to get, update and delete Dashboard exclusive secrets.
+              {
+                apiGroups = [""];
+                resources = ["secrets"];
+                resourceNames = ["kubernetes-dashboard-key-holder"];
+                verbs = ["get" "update" "delete"];
+              }
+              # Allow Dashboard to get and update 'kubernetes-dashboard-settings' config map.
+              {
+                apiGroups = [""];
+                resources = ["configmaps"];
+                resourceNames = ["kubernetes-dashboard-settings"];
+                verbs = ["get" "update"];
+              }
+              # Allow Dashboard to get metrics from heapster.
+              {
+                apiGroups = [""];
+                resources = ["services"];
+                resourceNames = ["heapster"];
+                verbs = ["proxy"];
+              }
+              {
+                apiGroups = [""];
+                resources = ["services/proxy"];
+                resourceNames = ["heapster" "http:heapster:" "https:heapster:"];
+                verbs = ["get"];
+              }
+            ];
+          };
+
+          kubernetes-dashboard-rb = {
+            apiVersion = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1";
+            kind = "RoleBinding";
+            metadata = {
+              name = "kubernetes-dashboard-minimal";
+              namespace = "kube-system";
+              inherit labels;
+            };
+            roleRef = {
+              apiGroup = "rbac.authorization.k8s.io";
+              kind = "Role";
+              name = "kubernetes-dashboard-minimal";
+            };
+            inherit subjects;
+          };
+        })
+    ));
   };
 }