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Prevent pwn-request RCE via the Qodana workflow - #3217
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Test Results 37 files ± 0 37 suites ±0 2m 57s ⏱️ +20s Results for commit 77c063a. ± Comparison against base commit 9fdefb8. This pull request removes 10 and adds 10 tests. Note that renamed tests count towards both.♻️ This comment has been updated with latest results. |
Coverage Report for CI Build 29192752655Coverage remained the same at 97.138%Details
Uncovered ChangesNo uncovered changes found. Coverage RegressionsNo coverage regressions found. Coverage Stats
💛 - Coveralls |
Qodana for .NETIt seems all right 👌 No new problems were found according to the checks applied 💡 Qodana analysis was run in the pull request mode: only the changed files were checked Contact Qodana teamContact us at qodana-support@jetbrains.com
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jnyrup
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The new "Qodana (PR)" pipeline fails to run.
I guess it still requires the Qodana token to run?
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The previous code_quality.yml combined pull_request_target (which runs with base-repo secrets) with actions/checkout using ref: github.event.pull_request.head.sha (which checks out untrusted contributor code). This is the classic 'pwn request' pattern: any external contributor could submit a PR that executes arbitrary code with access to QODANA_TOKEN. Fix: split into two workflows plus a scoped GitHub Environment. 1. code_quality.yml (push / workflow_dispatch only) - handles pushes to main and develop, plus manual triggers, using the repo-wide QODANA_TOKEN as before. 2. code_quality_pr.yml (pull_request) - runs Qodana against untrusted PR code, but with QODANA_TOKEN scoped to a dedicated 'qodana-pr' GitHub Environment instead of a repo/org-wide secret, and GITHUB_TOKEN permissions locked down to contents: read and pull-requests: write. This keeps blast radius limited to that one token and lets the environment require reviewer approval for first-time/fork contributors. References: - https://securitylab.github.com/research/github-actions-preventing-pwn-requests/ - https://www.jetbrains.com/help/qodana/github.html Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
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I had to revisit the solution. The PR description now properly explains the approach. |
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Security vulnerability fixed
The problem
.github/workflows/code_quality.ymlusedpull_request_target(which runs on the base repo with access to repository secrets) together withactions/checkoutusingref: github.event.pull_request.head.sha, which checks out untrusted contributor code in a privileged context. BecauseQODANA_TOKENwas injected viaenv:, any PR from an external contributor could exfiltrate or abuse it, and any other secret available to the job — a classic pwn request RCE pattern.The fix: split trusted vs. untrusted triggers, and scope the PR token
The single vulnerable workflow is replaced with two workflows plus a dedicated GitHub Environment:
code_quality.ymlpushtomain/develop,workflow_dispatchQODANA_TOKENcode_quality_pr.ymlpull_requestQODANA_TOKEN, scoped to theqodana-prGitHub EnvironmentWorkflow 1 (
code_quality.yml) — unchanged behaviour for branch pushes and manual triggers. Checks out trusted code and uploads results to Qodana Cloud with the repo-wideQODANA_TOKEN.Workflow 2 (
code_quality_pr.yml) — triggered bypull_request(notpull_request_target), so it runs with the contributor's untrusted code. Since the Qodana cloud linter requires a token to run at all, this workflow still needsQODANA_TOKEN— but that secret now lives in a dedicatedqodana-prGitHub Environment rather than as a repo/org-wide secret. This means:QODANA_TOKEN, never any other repo or org secret, even if this workflow is edited later to add more steps.qodana-prenvironment can have required reviewers configured, so a maintainer must manually approve the run for first-time or fork contributors before their code executes with the token.GITHUB_TOKENpermissions for this job are explicitly locked down tocontents: readandpull-requests: write(needed only for Qodana to post its PR comment), so the auto-token can't be used to push commits, modify workflows, or touch repo settings.Why two separate workflow files instead of one combined file
It's tempting to merge these into a single workflow with
on: [push, pull_request, workflow_dispatch]and a conditionalenvironment:/if:per job. We deliberately keep them split, for future maintainers:on:trigger of the file. A combined file requires carefully reading conditional expressions every time to reach the same conclusion, which is much easier to get wrong during review.if:) can accidentally let a step that needs broader secrets run in the PR-triggered branch. Separate files make that class of mistake structurally harder to introduce.code_quality.ymlneeds noenvironment:/scoped token and broadcontents: read;code_quality_pr.ymlneeds theqodana-prenvironment pluspull-requests: write. Combining them doesn't save much complexity, it just costs readability of the trust boundary.Please keep this split when touching Qodana CI in the future — resist the urge to consolidate them back into one file for "DRY" reasons; the duplication here is intentional and load-bearing for security.
References