CVE-2025-24362 | CodeQL GitHub Action failed workflow writes GitHub PAT to debug artifacts

In some circumstances, debug artifacts uploaded by the CodeQL Action after a failed code scanning workflow run may contain the environment variables from the workflow run, including any secrets that were exposed as environment variables to the workflow. Users with read access to the repository would be able to access this artifact, containing any secrets from the environment. This vulnerability is patched in CodeQL Action version 3.28.3 or later, or CodeQL CLI version 2.20.3 or later. For some affected workflow runs, the exposed environment variables in the debug artifacts included a valid `GITHUB_TOKEN` for the workflow run, which has access to the repository in which the workflow ran, and all the permissions specified in the workflow or job. The `GITHUB_TOKEN` is valid until the job completes or 24 hours has elapsed, whichever comes first. Environment variables are exposed only from workflow runs that satisfy all of the following conditions: - Code scanning workflow configured to scan the Java/Kotlin languages. - Running in a repository containing Kotlin source code. - Running with debug artifacts enabled. - Using CodeQL Action versions <= 3.28.2, and CodeQL CLI versions >= 2.9.2 (May 2022) and <= 2.20.2. - The workflow run fails before the CodeQL database is finalized within the `github/codeql-action/analyze` step. - Running in any GitHub environment: GitHub.com, GitHub Enterprise Cloud, and GitHub Enterprise Server. Note: artifacts are only accessible to users within the same GitHub environment with access to the scanned repo. The `GITHUB_TOKEN` exposed in this way would only have been valid for workflow runs that satisfy all of the following conditions, in addition to the conditions above: - Using CodeQL Action versions >= 3.26.11 (October 2024) and <= 3.28.2, or >= 2.26.11 and < 3. - Running in GitHub.com or GitHub Enterprise Cloud only (not valid on GitHub Enterprise Server). In rare cases during advanced setup, logging of environment variables may also occur during database creation of Java, Swift, and C/C++. Please read the corresponding CodeQL CLI advisory GHSA-gqh3-9prg-j95m for more details. In CodeQL CLI versions >= 2.9.2 and <= 2.20.2, the CodeQL Kotlin extractor logs all environment variables by default into an intermediate file during the process of creating a CodeQL database for Kotlin code. This is a part of the CodeQL CLI and is invoked by the CodeQL Action for analyzing Kotlin repositories. On Actions, the environment variables logged include GITHUB_TOKEN, which grants permissions to the repository being scanned. The intermediate file containing environment variables is deleted when finalizing the database, so it is not included in a successfully created database. It is, however, included in the debug artifact that is uploaded on a failed analysis run if the CodeQL Action was invoked in debug mode. Therefore, under these specific circumstances (incomplete database creation using the CodeQL Action in debug mode) an attacker with access to the debug artifact would gain unauthorized access to repository secrets from the environment, including both the `GITHUB_TOKEN` and any user-configured secrets made available via environment variables. The impact of the `GITHUB_TOKEN` leaked in this environment is limited: - For workflows on GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Cloud using CodeQL Action versions >= 3.26.11 and <= 3.28.2, or >= 2.26.11 and < 3, which in turn use the `actions/artifacts v4` library, the debug artifact is uploaded before the workflow job completes. During this time the `GITHUB_TOKEN` is still valid, providing an opportunity for attackers to gain access to the repository. - For all other workflows, the debug artifact is uploaded after the workflow job completes, at which point the leaked `GITHUB_TOKEN` has been revoked and cannot be used to access the repository.

Published: 2025-01-24 Last update: 2026-04-15 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2025-24362 is rated Moderate Risk (47.6/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.32%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-24362

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-04 0.40% 0.32% -0.07%
2 2025-11-20 0.26% 0.40% +0.13%
3 2025-10-10 0.26%

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-24362

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 4.0 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:L)
Low privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:H)
High confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:N)
No integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:N)
No availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X)
Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X)
Not evaluated.
[email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-24362

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2025-24362

GHSA-vqf5-2xx6-9wfm · Severity: high · Ecosystem: actions — GitHub PAT written to debug artifacts

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-24362

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2025-24362

cvelogic Threat Intelligence