1. A computer implemented method, comprising: generating, during a boot operation of a host computing device, an asymmetric key pair including a public key and a private key; storing the private key on a virtualization layer of the host computing device, the virtualization layer configured to run and manage virtual machine instances on the host computing device, wherein the private key is unique to the host computing device and unexportable from the host computing device; publishing the public key by sending a certificate signing request to a certificate authority (CA) configured to embed the public key in a certificate, the certificate used to perform a privileged operation on at least one of a hypervisor and a kernel of the host computing device, wherein the CA is configured to provide the certificate to a requestor party that is authorized to perform the privileged operation, wherein the privileged operation includes applying a patch to at least one of the hypervisor or the kernel on the host computing device; determining that the certificate signed by the CA is valid; receiving, via an application programming interface (API) configured to receive requests submitted to the host computing device from the requestor party, a request to execute the privileged operation in at least one of the hypervisor and the kernel of the host computing device from the requestor party, the request secured by at least the public key from the certificate; verifying the request by the at least one of the hypervisor and the kernel of the host computing device based at least in part on the use of the private key by decrypting the request using the private key stored on the virtualization layer of the host computing device, wherein verifying the request indicates that the requestor party is authorized to perform the privileged operation on the at least one of the hypervisor and the kernel of the host computing device; and executing the privileged operation in the at least one of the hypervisor and the kernel of the host computing device.