Skip to content

Attach GitHub token only to configured GitHub hosts - #3056

Merged
SamMorrowDrums merged 2 commits into
github:mainfrom
SyedAnas01:host-scoped-token
Aug 18, 2026
Merged

SamMorrowDrums merged 2 commits into
github:mainfrom
SyedAnas01:host-scoped-token

Conversation

@SyedAnas01

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

BearerAuthTransport sets the Authorization header on every request it processes. Go's net/http strips the Authorization header when a redirect crosses to a different host, but that only covers headers set on the initial request. Because this transport re-adds the header on every hop, a redirect that leaves the configured GitHub hosts would carry the token to the redirect target.

Today that is not reachable with an attacker-controlled destination, because GitHub's cross-host redirects (release assets, archives) resolve to GitHub-owned hosts such as objects.githubusercontent.com and codeload.github.com. This change stops the transport from relying on that invariant: it attaches the token only when the request host is one of the configured GitHub hosts (REST, GraphQL, upload, raw), so any redirect off them travels without the credential.

A CheckRedirect that strips Authorization does not work here, because the header is re-added by the transport on the next hop. The credential decision has to live in the transport, at the point where the header is set. An empty AllowedHosts preserves the prior behavior, so this is backward compatible; the three production construction sites populate it from the configured hosts.

Tests cover the token being sent to allowed hosts, withheld from a non-allowed redirect target and from arbitrary hosts, and the empty-AllowedHosts default. This is a hardening change, not a response to a known exploit.

@SyedAnas01
SyedAnas01 requested a review from a team as a code owner August 12, 2026 19:56
SyedAnas01 and others added 2 commits August 18, 2026 23:33
BearerAuthTransport re-adds the Authorization header on every hop, which
defeats net/http's cross-host redirect stripping. Scope the credential to
the configured hosts so a redirect off them travels without the token.

An empty AllowedHosts preserves prior behavior; the three production
construction sites populate it from the configured REST, upload, GraphQL
and raw hosts.
Use exact configured host authorities for every REST, GraphQL, and raw client so redirects cannot reattach credentials to foreign hosts or ports. Add adversarial redirect and lookalike coverage.

Co-authored-by: Copilot App <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
@SamMorrowDrums
SamMorrowDrums merged commit 21c5a6f into github:main Aug 18, 2026
13 checks passed
social4hyq pushed a commit to social4hyq/homebrew-core that referenced this pull request Sep 20, 2026
github-mcp-server 1.10.0

Created-by: HarmonybrewBot
Commit-by: HarmonybrewBot
Merged-by: HarmonybrewBot
Description: Created by `brew bump`

---

Created with `brew bump-formula-pr`.<details>
  <summary>release notes</summary>
  <pre>## Highlights

v1.10.0 is a substantial security, reliability, and compatibility release for the GitHub MCP Server.

### Safer by default

- Added confirmed repository deletion with form elicitation and protected multi-round-trip state ([#3076](github/github-mcp-server#3076)).
- Restricted bearer credentials to configured GitHub authorities ([#3056](github/github-mcp-server#3056)).
- Enforced HTTPS for GitHub Enterprise hosts ([#3069](github/github-mcp-server#3069)).
- Made invalid static `--tools` configuration fail closed ([#3050](github/github-mcp-server#3050)).
- Hardened lockdown, request limits, cache isolation, URL traversal, and response sanitization ([#3109](github/github-mcp-server#3109), [#3112](github/github-mcp-server#3112), [#3113](github/github-mcp-server#3113), [#3111](github/github-mcp-server#3111), [#3108](github/github-mcp-server#3108), [#3114](github/github-mcp-server#3114), [#3110](github/github-mcp-server#3110)).

### Better GitHub Enterprise Server compatibility

- `list_issues` and `search_issues` now degrade safely when issue custom-field GraphQL types are unavailable ([#3086](github/github-mcp-server#3086), [#2897](github/github-mcp-server#2897)).
- `list_issues` now returns assignee logins and stable empty arrays for unassigned issues ([#3064](github/github-mcp-server#3064)).
- Validation failures expose safe ruleset details when supplied by the GitHub API ([#3081](github/github-mcp-server#3081)).

### Safer repository file operations

- `get_file_contents` now identifies symbolic links and clearly labels dereferenced content.
- Symbolic-link writes require explicit `allow_symlink_write: true` opt-in ([#3071](github/github-mcp-server#3071)).
- Fixed binary MCP resources being base64-encoded twice ([#3098](github/github-mcp-server#3098)).

### More reliable tool contracts

- Corrected `add_issue_comment` input modes ([#3085](github/github-mcp-server#3085)).
- `issue_write.issue_fields[].delete: false` is now a valid no-op for strict-schema clients ([#3077](github/github-mcp-server#3077)).
- Zero-parameter tools accept an omitted `arguments` property while rejecting explicit `null` and malformed JSON ([#3099](github/github-mcp-server#3099)).
- Notification subscription tools explicitly advertise destructive behavior ([#2936](github/github-mcp-server#2936)).
- Copilot review-request denials now return actionable guidance instead of a bare 404 ([#3119](github/github-mcp-server#3119)).

### Projects, Actions, and efficiency

- Added Project view lifecycle operations and visible-field configuration ([#2961](github/github-mcp-server#2961), [#2988](github/github-mcp-server#2988)).
- Reduced Actions and other successful response payloads ([#3047](github/github-mcp-server#3047), [#3055](github/github-mcp-server#3055)).
- Improved sanitization performance and refreshed UI/build dependencies ([#3120](github/github-mcp-server#3120), [#3100](github/github-mcp-server#3100)).

### Behavior changes to note

- Unknown static `--tools` names now prevent startup.
- Symbolic-link updates require explicit opt-in.
- Requests cannot relax server-enforced lockdown.
- Oversized HTTP request bodies are rejected early.
- `add_issue_comment` performs stricter mutually exclusive mode validation.
- Repository deletion requires an eligible modern MCP client, form elicitation support, and the appropriate scopes.

## What's Changed
* Reduce Actions workflow list response payloads by @tommaso-moro in github/github-mcp-server#3047
* Use minimal response types for tool results by @tommaso-moro in github/github-mcp-server#3055
* Add basic project view management by @zwick in github/github-mcp-server#2961
* Add visible fields to project views by @zwick in github/github-mcp-server#2988
* fix(actions): avoid malformed response on log download failure by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3066
* fix(security): enforce HTTPS for gh-host/GITHUB_HOST to prevent cleartext credentials by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3069
* Reject unsupported subscription streams by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3073
* build(deps): bump distroless/base-debian12 from `348dac1` to `76b3162` by @dependabot[bot] in github/github-mcp-server#3088
* build(deps): bump golang from 1.25.12-alpine to 1.25.13-alpine by @dependabot[bot] in github/github-mcp-server#3087
* build(deps): bump github.com/stretchr/testify from 1.11.1 to 1.12.0 by @dependabot[bot] in github/github-mcp-server#3089
* build(deps): bump the npm_and_yarn group across 1 directory with 2 updates by @dependabot[bot] in github/github-mcp-server#3007
* build(deps): bump docker/login-action from 4.4.0 to 4.6.0 by @dependabot[bot] in github/github-mcp-server#3005
* Add confirmed repository deletion tool by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3076
* fix(issues): validate add_issue_comment input modes by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3085
* Fix static --tools validation fallback by @Mahmoud772122777 in github/github-mcp-server#3050
* Attach GitHub token only to configured GitHub hosts by @SyedAnas01 in github/github-mcp-server#3056
* Show ruleset violation details when create_branch fails by @Hashim1999164 in github/github-mcp-server#3081
* fix(notifications): mark subscription tools destructive by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#2936
* Fix binary resource blob encoding by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3098
* Return assignees from list_issues by @tgockel in github/github-mcp-server#3064
* Fix list_issues on GHES schemas without issue fields by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3086
* Fix omitted tool arguments by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3099
* Clarify symlink behavior for repository file reads and writes by @theinfosecguy in github/github-mcp-server#3071
* fix(issues): allow delete:false in issue_write issue_fields by @tgockel in github/github-mcp-server#3077
* Handle unsupported issueFieldValues enrichment in search_issues by @kerobbi in github/github-mcp-server#2897
* build(deps): clear UI dependency alerts by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3100
* fix(lockdown): harden pull_request_read get_commits handling by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3109
* fix(http): make server lockdown mode an upper bound over requests by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3112
* Centralize sanitization of untrusted GitHub response fields by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3114
* Filter invisible Unicode after HTML entity normalization by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3110
* fix(raw): reject traversal segments when constructing raw content URLs by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3108
* refactor: condense lockdown comments in GetPullRequestCommits by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3115
* Limit HTTP request bodies before MCP middleware parsing by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3111
* fix(lockdown): isolate repo-access cache per caller identity by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3113
* perf(sanitize): make clean text allocation-free on the hot path by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3120
* test(sanitize): drop the optimization scaffolding by @SamMorrowDrums in github/github-mcp-server#3121
* fix(copilot): explain review request denials instead of forwarding a bare 404 by @dylanpulver in github/github-mcp-server#3119
* build(deps): bump the npm_and_yarn group across 1 directory with 4 updates by @dependabot[bot] in github/github-mcp-server#3091

## New Contributors
* @Mahmoud772122777 made their first contribution in github/github-mcp-server#3050
* @SyedAnas01 made their first contribution in github/github-mcp-server#3056
* @Hashim1999164 made their first contribution in github/github-mcp-server#3081
* @tgockel made their first contribution in github/github-mcp-server#3064
* @theinfosecguy made their first contribution in github/github-mcp-server#3071
* @dylanpulver made their first contribution in github/github-mcp-server#3119

**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/github/github-mcp-

See merge request: Harmonybrew/homebrew-core!17166
@SyedAnas01

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor Author

Following up on PR #3056 from back in August (the cross-host token-scoping fix). The PR description framed it as hardening rather than a response to an active exploit, so this might not clear your bar for an advisory — but if your team does see it that way, would you consider opening one? Fine either way, just didn't want it to sit unasked.

Anas

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Labels

None yet

Projects

None yet

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

3 participants