The March 2025 compromise of tj-actions/changed-files planted code intended to print CI/CD secrets into GitHub Actions workflow logs. SecurityWeek reported that more than 23,000 repositories used the action, but that is a measure of potential reach—not confirmed victims: the report attributed 218 repositories with leaked secrets to Endor Labs’ analysis. Investigators traced the likely route through a compromised dependency and a stolen bot token, though the precise initial access method was not conclusively established.
What happened in the GitHub Actions supply chain hack?
tj-actions/changed-files is a third-party GitHub Action that workflows can use to identify changed files. In March 2025, malicious code was introduced into the action and designed to expose secrets by printing them in workflow logs. SecurityWeek’s March 21, 2025 report described the incident as a compromise of a workflow dependency, not a compromise of GitHub itself. A GitHub spokesperson quoted in that report said, “There is currently no evidence to suggest a compromise of GitHub or its systems.” SecurityWeek’s incident report
The associated vulnerability identifier for tj-actions/changed-files is CVE-2025-30066. The incident also involved reviewdog/action-setup, associated with CVE-2025-30154. GitHub advisory for tj-actions/changed-files Tenable’s CVE-2025-30154 record
What was the root cause of the tj-actions/changed-files compromise?
Wiz assessed that a compromise of reviewdog/action-setup was likely the root cause of the compromise of a personal access token associated with tj-actions-bot. That token was then used in the attack chain affecting tj-actions/changed-files, according to SecurityWeek’s reporting. This is an attributed assessment, not a conclusively established account of the initial access route.
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Reviewdog said its contributor process automatically invited contributors to its organization and gave them write access for action maintenance. The reporting said the attacker may have abused that process or compromised an existing contributor account; it did not establish which occurred. Tenable’s CVE record identifies a malicious reviewdog/action-setup@v1 window on March 11, 2025, from 18:42 to 20:31 UTC, and names other Reviewdog actions that used it. Check the live advisory for exact affected versions and current status before acting on version-specific assumptions. Tenable’s CVE-2025-30154 record
Unit 42 described an earlier targeted attack on a Coinbase open-source project’s public CI/CD flow, followed by a later expansion to the widespread tj-actions/changed-files compromise. That provides campaign context, but does not by itself establish a common operator or motive. Palo Alto Networks Unit 42’s analysis
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Were GitHub Actions secrets exposed?
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SecurityWeek also reported that, at the time of publication, there was no evidence that the collected data had actually been exfiltrated, and noted that many exposed credentials were short-lived tokens. That was a time-bounded observation, not proof that every credential was safe or that no downstream misuse occurred. Organizations should assess their own logs and credential activity rather than infer safety from the absence of reported exfiltration.
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How many repositories were affected?
“Affected” can mean a repository that potentially used a compromised action, one whose logs contained secrets, or one with confirmed downstream credential misuse. The available reported figures measure different things:
| Measure | Reported figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
Repositories using tj-actions/changed-files |
More than 23,000, reported by SecurityWeek on March 21, 2025 | Potential reach or exposure, not a count of repositories confirmed to have leaked secrets. |
| Repositories reported to have leaked secrets | 218, attributed by SecurityWeek to Endor Labs’ 2025 analysis | Observed leakage in that firm’s analysis; it is not an exhaustive count of every affected repository. |
Direct users of reviewdog/action-setup |
More than 3,000, reported by SecurityWeek citing Unit 42 | Dependency-reach estimate, not a count of confirmed compromises. |
| Third-level dependencies | Nearly 160,000, reported by SecurityWeek citing Unit 42 | Estimated indirect dependency reach, not confirmed affected repositories. |
The figures should not be added together: they describe overlapping dependency relationships and different stages of exposure. The reported evidence does not establish a final exhaustive victim count or prove downstream credential misuse.
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What should maintainers do after using a compromised GitHub Action?
If a workflow may have invoked an affected reference during the incident window, treat credentials that could have appeared in its logs as potentially exposed. Use the relevant advisories to identify affected versions and timelines, then investigate the workflow runs that actually used those references.
- Identify exposure: Search workflow files, action references, dependency files, and run history for
tj-actions/changed-filesand relevant Reviewdog actions. Match the resolved action versions and run times against the current advisories. Review the logs for the affected runs, keeping access to sensitive logs restricted. - Contain credentials: Revoke or rotate secrets that could have been printed, including tokens and publishing credentials. Do not assume short-lived credentials need no review; check their permissions and whether they remained valid during the relevant period.
- Check for use: Review provider audit logs and downstream systems for use of exposed credentials, unexpected access, or changes. A log exposure alone does not establish use, so investigate the credentials and systems involved.
- Review dependencies: Check direct and transitive Actions in workflows. Where practical, pin third-party Actions to immutable commit SHAs rather than mutable tags, and update references based on the current security advisories.
- Reduce workflow authority: Set the narrowest necessary
GITHUB_TOKENpermissions for each workflow or job. Keep untrusted pull-request code out of privileged workflows, and scrutinize uses ofpull_request_targetbefore allowing untrusted code to run with elevated access. - Reduce long-lived secrets: Where supported, use short-lived credentials or trusted publishing instead of storing long-lived publishing tokens. GitHub documents workflow hardening, changes to
pull_request_targetdefaults, and trusted publishing guidance. GitHub’s GitHub Actions security guidance
What the incident shows about CI/CD risk
A workflow dependency can have access to the same sensitive execution environment as the workflow that calls it. If an action can read environment variables, tokens, or other secrets, malicious behavior in that action may expose them through logs or another output channel. The practical security boundary is therefore not only the repository’s own code: it also includes the Actions and dependencies the workflow runs, their permissions, and the credentials available to them.
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For incident response, keep three questions separate: Did a workflow resolve to an affected dependency? Could a credential have been exposed in its logs? Is there evidence that credential was used? The answers determine whether the case is potential exposure, observed leakage, or demonstrated downstream activity.
