RunnerApplication · GitHub
CVE-2022-39321
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedGitHub Actions Runner is the application that runs a job from a GitHub Actions workflow. The actions runner invokes the docker cli directly in order to run job containers, service containers, or container actions. A bug in the logic for how the environment is encoded into these docker commands was discovered in versions prior to 2.296.2, 2.293.1, 2.289.4, 2.285.2, and 2.283.4 that allows an input to escape the environment variable and modify that docker command invocation directly. Jobs that use container actions, job containers, or service containers alongside untrusted user inputs in environment variables may be vulnerable. The Actions Runner has been patched, both on `github.com` and hotfixes for GHES and GHAE customers in versions 2.296.2, 2.293.1, 2.289.4, 2.285.2, and 2.283.4. GHES and GHAE customers may want to patch their instance in order to have their runners automatically upgrade to these new runner versions. As a workaround, users may consider removing any container actions, job containers, or service containers from their jobs until they are able to upgrade their runner versions.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisUser input reaches a shell or system command without being fully separated from the command itself, so an attacker can append their own instructions. Because these run with the application's privileges, it often means full control of the host. The lasting fix is to avoid the shell entirely — call APIs directly and pass arguments as data, never as concatenated strings.
General guidance for the os command injection class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
RunnerApplication
< 2.283.4>= 2.284.0, < 2.285.2>= 2.286.0, < 2.289.4>= 2.290.0, < 2.293.1>= 2.294.0, < 2.296.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped2.283.42.285.22.289.4
2.296.2 (latest fixed release, or 2.293.1/2.289.4/2.285.2/2.283.4 depending on current version branch)
- Identify current GitHub Actions Runner version by checking the runner's config.toml file or runner diagnostics
- Determine which affected version branch your runner is on (below 2.283.4, between 2.284.0-2.285.1, between 2.286.0-2.289.3, or between 2.290.0-2.293.0)
- Upgrade to the appropriate fixed version: 2.296.2 if available for your deployment type, otherwise upgrade to the next fixed version in your branch (2.283.4, 2.285.2, 2.289.4, or 2.293.1)
- For GitHub.com (github.com): runners automatically receive updates; verify runner version has updated after upgrade
- For GHES/GHAE: patch the appliance first so runners can auto-upgrade to the new versions
- After upgrade, verify the runner version matches the fixed release using ./config.sh --check or equivalent diagnostics
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-39321 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-39321 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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