GHSA-mm27-mwq9-fr5g
GitHub CLI allows attestation verification bypass through unescaped regex metacharacters
Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/cli/cli/v2 | < 2.97.0 | 2.97.0 |
Details
As written in the advisory (Markdown source, shown as plain text).
### Summary
A security vulnerability has been identified in GitHub CLI that could allow attestation verification bypass when using `gh attestation verify` with `--signer-repo` or `--signer-workflow` flags. GitHub CLI builds the certificate matcher from these flag values without escaping regex metacharacters, so a repository or workflow name is treated as a regular expression rather than a literal string. GitHub permits characters such as `.` in organization, repository, and workflow path names, and `.` is a regex wildcard, so a malicious actor can create a lookalike name that satisfies a matcher intended for a different, trusted signer.
### Details
GitHub CLI constructs a regular expression from the `--signer-repo` and `--signer-workflow` values and matches it against the signing certificate's SAN (Subject Alternative Name) during Sigstore attestation verification. The user-supplied value is interpolated into the pattern without escaping regex metacharacters, so any metacharacter permitted in a GitHub path is interpreted as regex syntax instead of a literal character.
The most practical case is `.` , which GitHub allows in org/repo names and is a regex wildcard meaning "any single character." For example, an attacker-controlled repository named:
`github/artifact.attestations-workflows`
matches a verifier configured for the trusted signer:
`github/artifact-attestations-workflows`
because the unescaped `.` in the constructed pattern matches the `-` in the attacker's name (and any other single character at that position). This affected the `--signer-repo` and `--signer-workflow` flags but did not affect the `--repo` and `--owner` flags which include an exact string comparison.
In `v2.97.0`, the GitHub CLI escapes the user-supplied signer values before they are incorporated into the SAN matcher, so they are matched as literal strings.
### Impact
The practical impact is limited, exploitation requires the attacker to create a plausible lookalike repository name and produce valid Sigstore attestations from it. This could undermine supply chain verification for CI/CD pipelines or policy gates that use these flags to pin trust to a specific signing workflow.
### Remediation and Mitigation
1. Upgrade `gh` to `v2.97.0` or later, which escapes signer values before matching.
2. As a workaround, use `--repo` or `--owner` flags instead of `--signer-repo` or `--signer-workflow` where applicable.
3. Manually inspect the signing certificate SAN in attestation output to confirm the signing workflow origin.
References
External links from the advisory. They lead to third-party sites.