diff --git a/cluster/kube-env.sh b/cluster/kube-env.sh
index ac9d74ac5fe..3847682b86a 100644
--- a/cluster/kube-env.sh
+++ b/cluster/kube-env.sh
@@ -30,3 +30,23 @@ if [[ -z "${color_start-}" ]]; then
   declare -r color_green="${color_start}0;32m"
   declare -r color_norm="${color_start}0m"
 fi
+
+# Returns the server version as MMmmpp, with MM as the major
+# component, mm the minor component, and pp as the patch
+# revision. e.g. 0.7.1 is echoed as 701, and 1.0.11 would be
+# 10011. (This makes for easy integer comparison in bash.)
+function kube_server_version() {
+  local server_version
+  local major
+  local minor
+  local patch
+
+  # This sed expression is the POSIX BRE to match strings like:
+  # Server Version: &version.Info{Major:"0", Minor:"7+", GitVersion:"v0.7.0-dirty", GitCommit:"ad44234f7152e9c66bc2853575445c7071335e57", GitTreeState:"dirty"}
+  # and capture the GitVersion portion (which has the patch level)
+  server_version=$(${KUBECTL} --match-server-version=false version | grep "Server Version:")
+  read major minor patch < <(
+    echo ${server_version} | \
+      sed "s/.*GitVersion:\"v\([0-9]\{1,\}\)\.\([0-9]\{1,\}\)\.\([0-9]\{1,\}\).*/\1 \2 \3/")
+  printf "%02d%02d%02d" ${major} ${minor} ${patch} | sed 's/^0*//'
+}
diff --git a/hack/e2e-suite/liveness.sh b/hack/e2e-suite/liveness.sh
index 974002b50d4..32f0913b871 100755
--- a/hack/e2e-suite/liveness.sh
+++ b/hack/e2e-suite/liveness.sh
@@ -25,10 +25,20 @@ KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/../..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/kube-env.sh"
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/cluster/$KUBERNETES_PROVIDER/util.sh"
 
+liveness_tests="http exec"
+if [[ ${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER} == "gke" ]]; then
+  server_version=$(kube_server_version)
+  if [[ ${server_version} -le 702 ]]; then
+    echo "GKE server version <= 0.7.2, limiting test to http (version = ${server_version})"
+    liveness_tests="http"
+  fi
+fi
+
 function teardown() {
   echo "Cleaning up test artifacts"
-  ${KUBECFG} delete pods/liveness-http
-  ${KUBECFG} delete pods/liveness-exec
+  for test in ${liveness_tests}; do
+    ${KUBECFG} delete pods/liveness-${test}
+  done
 }
 
 function waitForNotPending() {
@@ -58,7 +68,7 @@ function waitForNotPending() {
 
 trap "teardown" EXIT
 
-for test in http exec; do
+for test in ${liveness_tests}; do
   echo "Liveness test: ${test}"
   ${KUBECFG} -c ${KUBE_ROOT}/examples/liveness/${test}-liveness.yaml create pods
   waitForNotPending