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Agent skill

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows

by mukul975 in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills

Hardens GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege escalation: pinning actions to SHA digests, minimizing GITHUBTOKEN permissions, protecting secrets…

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedDevOps & Cloud

Install Securing GitHub Actions Workflows

skills CLI
$ npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill securing-github-actions-workflows -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills securing-github-actions-workflows --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows .claude/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
securing-github-actions-workflows
GitHub stars
34k
Token cost
~2.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
451 words
Files
8 (incl. scripts, references, assets)
Skills in repo
639
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
Apache-2.0

At a glance

Hardens GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege escalation: pinning actions to SHA digests, minimizing GITHUBTOKEN permissions, protecting secrets…

  • Works in 6 steps: Pin Actions to SHA Digests → Minimize GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions → Prevent Script Injection → …
  • Hardening GitHub Actions workflows that handle secrets
  • SKILL.md covers When to Use, Prerequisites, Workflow and Key Concepts, plus 3 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder; needs DEPLOY_KEY and GITHUB_TOKEN

What it does

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows is an agent skill from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills. Hardens GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege escalation: pinning actions to SHA digests, minimizing GITHUBTOKEN permissions, protecting secrets, preventing script injection in workflow expressions, and requiring reviewers for workflow changes. Use when hardening GitHub Actions workflows that handle secrets, deploy to production, or run with elevated permissions.

Its SKILL.md is about 2.2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 10 other files, including scripts, reference files and assets (for example `assets/template.md`, `references/api-reference.md` and `references/standards.md`).

It sits in DevOps & Cloud, covering CI/CD, Supply chain security and Red teaming and adversary simulation. It works with GitHub Actions and GitHub. The repository describes itself as: 817 structured cybersecurity skills for AI agents · Mapped to 6 frameworks: MITRE ATT&CK, NIST CSF 2.0, MITRE ATLAS, D3FEND, NIST AI RMF & MITRE F3 (Fight Fraud) · agentskills.io…. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

  • Hardening GitHub Actions workflows that handle secrets
  • Deploy to production
  • Run with elevated permissions

Example prompts

  • “Use the securing-github-actions-workflows skill to harden GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege…”
  • “/securing-github-actions-workflows”

Requirements

  • Python 3
  • A credential in GITHUB_TOKEN
  • A credential in DEPLOY_KEY

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Pin Actions to SHA Digests
  2. Minimize GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
  3. Prevent Script Injection
  4. Secure Fork Pull Request Handling
  5. Protect Secrets and Environment Variables
  6. Implement Workflow Change Controls

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 54a7988. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 2 files in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names these keys or tokens, usually read from environment variables:

    • DEPLOY_KEY
    • GITHUB_TOKEN

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows loads about 2.2k tokens when it runs, and up to ~3.2k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 112 tokens; SKILL.md has 451 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~112
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2.2k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~3.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills at commit 54a7988, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© mukul975). 451 words, ~2,189 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 7 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
securing-github-actions-workflows
description
Hardens GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege escalation: pinning actions to SHA digests, minimizing GITHUB_TOKEN permissions, protecting secrets, preventing script injection in workflow expressions, and requiring reviewers for workflow changes. Use when hardening GitHub Actions workflows that handle secrets, deploy to production, or run with elevated permissions.
domain
cybersecurity
subdomain
devsecops
tags
devsecops, cicd, github-actions, supply-chain, workflow-security, secure-sdlc
version
1.0.0
author
mahipal
license
Apache-2.0
nist_csf
PR.PS-01, GV.SC-07, ID.IM-04, PR.PS-04
mitre_attack
T1195, T1554, T1059.004, T1068, T1548

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows

When to Use

  • When GitHub Actions is the CI/CD platform and workflows need hardening against supply chain attacks
  • When workflows handle secrets, deploy to production, or have elevated permissions
  • When preventing script injection via untrusted PR titles, branch names, or commit messages
  • When requiring audit trails and approval gates for workflow modifications
  • When third-party actions pose supply chain risk through mutable version tags

Do not use for securing other CI/CD platforms (see platform-specific hardening guides), for application vulnerability scanning (use SAST/DAST), or for secret detection in code (use Gitleaks).

Prerequisites

  • GitHub repository with GitHub Actions enabled
  • GitHub organization admin access for organization-level settings
  • Understanding of GitHub Actions workflow syntax and events

Workflow

Step 1: Pin Actions to SHA Digests
yaml
# INSECURE: Mutable tag can be overwritten by attacker
- uses: actions/checkout@v4

# SECURE: Pinned to immutable SHA digest
- uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11  # v4.1.1

# Use Dependabot to auto-update pinned SHAs
# .github/dependabot.yml
version: 2
updates:
  - package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
    directory: "/"
    schedule:
      interval: "weekly"
    commit-message:
      prefix: "ci"
Step 2: Minimize GITHUB_TOKEN Permissions
yaml
# Set restrictive default permissions at workflow level
name: CI Pipeline
permissions: {}  # Start with no permissions

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read  # Only what's needed
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11

  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
    permissions:
      contents: read
      deployments: write
      id-token: write  # For OIDC-based cloud auth
    steps:
      - name: Deploy
        run: echo "deploying"
Step 3: Prevent Script Injection
yaml
# VULNERABLE: User-controlled input in run step
- run: echo "PR title is ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}"

# SECURE: Use environment variable (properly escaped by shell)
- name: Process PR
  env:
    PR_TITLE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}
    PR_BODY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}
  run: |
    echo "PR title is ${PR_TITLE}"
    echo "PR body is ${PR_BODY}"

# SECURE: Use actions/github-script for complex operations
- uses: actions/github-script@60a0d83039c74a4aee543508d2ffcb1c3799cdea
  with:
    script: |
      const title = context.payload.pull_request.title;
      console.log(`PR title: ${title}`);
Step 4: Secure Fork Pull Request Handling
yaml
# DANGEROUS: pull_request_target runs with base repo permissions
# on: pull_request_target  # AVOID unless absolutely necessary

# SAFE: pull_request runs in fork context with limited permissions
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

# If pull_request_target is required, never checkout PR code:
on:
  pull_request_target:
    types: [labeled]

jobs:
  safe-job:
    if: contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'safe-to-test')
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: read
    steps:
      # NEVER do: actions/checkout with ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
      - uses: actions/checkout@b4ffde65f46336ab88eb53be808477a3936bae11
        # This checks out the BASE branch, not the PR
Step 5: Protect Secrets and Environment Variables
yaml
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: production  # Requires approval
    steps:
      - name: Deploy with secret
        env:
          # Secrets are masked in logs automatically
          DEPLOY_KEY: ${{ secrets.DEPLOY_KEY }}
        run: |
          # Never echo secrets
          # echo "$DEPLOY_KEY"  # BAD
          deploy-tool --key-file <(echo "$DEPLOY_KEY")

      - name: Audit secret access
        run: |
          # Log that secret was used without exposing it
          echo "::notice::Deploy key accessed for production deployment"
Step 6: Implement Workflow Change Controls
yaml
# Require CODEOWNERS approval for workflow changes
# .github/CODEOWNERS
.github/workflows/ @security-team @platform-team
.github/actions/ @security-team @platform-team

# Organization settings:
# 1. Settings > Actions > General > Fork PR policies
#    - Require approval for first-time contributors
#    - Require approval for all outside collaborators
# 2. Settings > Actions > General > Workflow permissions
#    - Read repository contents and packages permissions
#    - Do NOT allow GitHub Actions to create and approve PRs

Key Concepts

TermDefinition
SHA PinningReferencing GitHub Actions by their immutable commit SHA instead of mutable version tags
Script InjectionAttack where untrusted input (PR title, branch name) is interpolated into shell commands
GITHUB_TOKENAutomatically generated token with configurable permissions scoped to the current repository
pull_request_targetDangerous event trigger that runs in the base repo context with full permissions on fork PRs
Environment ProtectionGitHub feature requiring manual approval before jobs accessing an environment can run
CODEOWNERSFile defining required reviewers for specific paths including workflow files
OIDC FederationUsing GitHub's OIDC token to authenticate to cloud providers without storing long-lived credentials
Show full SKILL.md (195 more words)Show less

Tools & Systems

  • Dependabot: Automated dependency updater that keeps pinned action SHAs current
  • StepSecurity Harden Runner: GitHub Action that monitors and restricts outbound network calls from workflows
  • actionlint: Linter for GitHub Actions workflow files that detects security issues
  • allstar: GitHub App by OpenSSF that enforces security policies on repositories
  • scorecard: OpenSSF tool that evaluates supply chain security practices including CI/CD

Common Scenarios

Scenario: Preventing Supply Chain Attack via Compromised Third-Party Action

Context: A widely-used GitHub Action is compromised and its v3 tag is updated to include credential-stealing code. Repositories using @v3 automatically pull the malicious version.

Approach:

  1. Pin all actions to SHA digests immediately across all repositories
  2. Configure Dependabot for github-actions ecosystem to manage SHA updates
  3. Restrict GITHUB_TOKEN permissions so even compromised actions have minimal access
  4. Add StepSecurity harden-runner to detect anomalous outbound network calls
  5. Review all third-party actions and replace unnecessary ones with inline scripts
  6. Require CODEOWNERS approval for any changes to .github/workflows/

Pitfalls: SHA pinning without Dependabot means missing legitimate security updates to actions. Overly restrictive permissions can break legitimate workflows. Using pull_request_target for label-based gating still exposes secrets if the workflow checks out PR code.

Output Format

GitHub Actions Security Audit
================================
Repository: org/web-application
Date: 2026-02-23

WORKFLOW ANALYSIS:
  Total workflows: 8
  Total action references: 34

SHA PINNING:
  [FAIL] 12/34 actions use mutable tags instead of SHA digests
  - .github/workflows/ci.yml: actions/setup-node@v4
  - .github/workflows/deploy.yml: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4

PERMISSIONS:
  [FAIL] 3/8 workflows have no explicit permissions (inherit default)
  [WARN] 1/8 workflows request write-all permissions

SCRIPT INJECTION:
  [FAIL] 2 workflow steps interpolate user input directly
  - .github/workflows/pr-check.yml:23: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}

SECRETS:
  [PASS] No secrets exposed in workflow logs
  [PASS] All production deployments use environment protection

SCORE: 6/10 (Remediate 5 HIGH findings)

© mukul975, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 7 other files (scripts, references, assets) in skills/securing-github-actions-workflows of mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • LICENSE
  • assets/template.md
  • references/api-reference.md
  • references/standards.md
  • references/workflows.md
  • scripts/agent.py
  • scripts/process.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 54a7988

Compare with similar skills

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Securing GitHub Actions Workflows this skillmukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills34k—~2.2kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
GitHub Actions Supply Chain Pinningasyncapi/generator1.1k—~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
GitHub Actions Hardeninggithub/awesome-copilot40k1 repos~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
GitHub Actions Supply ChainHabitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers114—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassCustom licence
Renovate Actions PR Reviewbacknotprop/plannotator9.2k—~640Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Update Vulndbboostsecurityio/poutine522—~173Automated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Categories

Questions about Securing GitHub Actions Workflows

What does Securing GitHub Actions Workflows do?

Hardens GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege escalation: pinning actions to SHA digests, minimizing GITHUBTOKEN permissions, protecting secrets…. Securing GitHub Actions Workflows is an agent skill from mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills. Hardens GitHub Actions workflows against supply chain attacks, credential theft, and privilege escalation: pinning actions to SHA digests, minimizing GITHUBTOKEN permissions, protecting secrets, preventing script injection in workflow expressions, and requiring reviewers for workflow changes.

When should I use Securing GitHub Actions Workflows?

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows fits situations like: hardening GitHub Actions workflows that handle secrets; deploy to production; run with elevated permissions.

How do I install Securing GitHub Actions Workflows in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill securing-github-actions-workflows -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/securing-github-actions-workflows in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills) into .claude/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Securing GitHub Actions Workflows in Codex?

Run `npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill securing-github-actions-workflows -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/securing-github-actions-workflows in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills) into .agents/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Securing GitHub Actions Workflows in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills --skill securing-github-actions-workflows -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows, .gemini/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows, .github/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows and .opencode/skills/securing-github-actions-workflows in your project.

What does Securing GitHub Actions Workflows need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Securing GitHub Actions Workflows needs Python for the scripts in its folder and credentials named DEPLOY_KEY and GITHUB_TOKEN. Our summary lists: Python 3; A credential in GITHUB_TOKEN; A credential in DEPLOY_KEY.

Does Securing GitHub Actions Workflows access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Securing GitHub Actions Workflows safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Securing GitHub Actions Workflows use?

Securing GitHub Actions Workflows is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (declared in SKILL.md). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Securing GitHub Actions Workflows use?

About 2.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8.8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 1k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Securing GitHub Actions Workflows?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Securing GitHub Actions Workflows: GitHub Actions Supply Chain Pinning (asyncapi/generator, 1.1k stars), GitHub Actions Hardening (github/awesome-copilot, 40k stars), GitHub Actions Supply Chain (Habitat-Thinking/ai-literacy-superpowers, 114 stars) and Renovate Actions PR Review (backnotprop/plannotator, 9.2k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Securing GitHub Actions Workflows?

mukul975 (a GitHub user) maintains it in mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills, which has 33,870 GitHub stars. The repository holds 639 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on August 31, 2026.

Source: mukul975/Anthropic-Cybersecurity-Skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.