GHSA-vxmw-7h4f-hqxh json
PyPI publish GitHub Action vulnerable to injectable expression expansions in action steps
published last yr. modified last yr.
- cvss
- 0.0
- version 3.1, GitHub
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- —
- no score, EPSS covers CVEs only
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
### Summary
`gh-action-pypi-publish` makes use of GitHub Actions expression expansions (i.e. `${{ ... }}`) in contexts that are potentially attacker controllable. Depending on the trigger used to invoke `gh-action-pypi-publish`, this may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code within the context of a workflow step that invokes `gh-action-pypi-publish`.
### Details
`gh-action-pypi-publish` contains a composite action step, `set-repo-and-ref`, that makes use of expression expansions:
```yaml - name: Set repo and ref from which to run Docker container action id: set-repo-and-ref run: | # Set repo and ref from which to run Docker container action # to handle cases in which `github.action_` context is not set # https://github.com/actions/runner/issues/2473 REF=${{ env.ACTION_REF || env.PR_REF || github.ref_name }} REPO=${{ env.ACTION_REPO || env.PR_REPO || github.repository }} REPO_ID=${{ env.PR_REPO_ID || github.repository_id }} echo "ref=$REF" >>"$GITHUB_OUTPUT" echo "repo=$REPO" >>"$GITHUB_OUTPUT" echo "repo-id=$REPO_ID" >>"$GITHUB_OUTPUT" shell: bash env: ACTION_REF: ${{ github.action_ref }} ACTION_REPO: ${{ github.action_repository }} PR_REF: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }} PR_REPO: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }} PR_REPO_ID: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.repo.id }} ```
Permalink: https://github.com/pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish/blob/db8f07d3871a0a180efa06b95d467625c19d5d5f/action.yml#L114-L125
In normal intended operation, these expansions are used to establish a correct priority for outputs like `ref` and `repo-id`.
However, these expansions have a side effect: because they're done with `${{ ... }}` and not with `${...}` (i.e. normal shell interpolation), they can *bypass normal shell quoting rules*. In particular, if both `env.ACTION_REF` and `env.PR_REF` evaluate to empty strings, then the expression falls back to `github.ref_name`, which can be an attacker controlled string via a branch or tag name.
For example, if the attacker is able to set a branch name to something like `innocent;cat${IFS}/etc/passwd`, then the `REF` line may expand as:
```bash REF=innocent;cat${IFS}/etc/passwd ```
which would set `REF` to `innocent` and then run the attacker's code.
Additional information about dangerous expansions can be found in [zizmor's `template-injection` rule documentation](https://woodruffw.github.io/zizmor/audits/#template-injection).
### Impact
The impact of this vulnerability is very low: the expression in question is unlikely to be evaluated in normal operation, since `env.ACTION_REF` should always take precedence.
In particular, the action is **not** vulnerable in many popular configurations, i.e. those where `pull_request` or `release` or a `push: tags` event is used to call the action.
Patch / fix
- github-actions pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish 1.13.0
Is GHSA-vxmw-7h4f-hqxh in your dependencies? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.
Check with FencerCVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub | 3.1 | 0.0 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:N |
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| github-actions | pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish | <1.13.0 |
1.13.0 |
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-77 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command
References
Sources
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-vxmw-7h4f-hqxh
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