reviewdog action-setup GitHub Action: vulnerability flaw under attack

What is affected

reviewdog action-setup GitHub Action is mostly run by companies, schools and public bodies, not on home computers. You are unlikely to have it yourself, but organisations that hold your data may. Breaches that start with flaws like this one are how personal data ends up leaked.

reviewdog action-setup GitHub Action contains an embedded malicious code vulnerability that dumps exposed secrets to Github Actions Workflow Logs.

What an attacker can do

This is a vulnerability flaw. It lets an attacker misuse the product in a way its maker did not intend. CISA lists it because attackers are confirmed to be using it against real systems.

How it is reached

Over the internet or network

Access the attacker needs

No account needed

Does the victim have to do something?

No, works without the victim doing anything

What to do

1. At home: nothing to install. Keep your own devices updated and use a different password for every service, so that a breach at one organisation does not open your other accounts.
2. If you administer reviewdog action-setup GitHub Action at work: apply the vendor's fix or mitigation now and review logs for signs of compromise, because the flaw was being exploited before it was listed.
3. If the product is past its support date and no fix exists, take it off the internet or retire it.

Apply mitigations as set forth in the CISA instructions linked below. Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Vendor advisories and fixes

• github.comgithub.com/reviewdog/reviewdog/security/advisories/GHSA-qmg3-hpqr-gqvc

How urgent is it

CISA added this vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalogue on March 24, 2025, which means there is reliable evidence of attacks in the wild. US federal agencies must fix it by April 14, 2025, a deadline that has already passed. That deadline does not bind anyone else, but it shows how seriously the agency rates it.

The EPSS model estimates a 2.4% probability that this flaw will be exploited somewhere in the next 30 days. That is higher than 84% of all scored vulnerabilities.

Its CVSS severity score is 8.6 out of 10 (high), as recorded in the US National Vulnerability Database.

Technical description

reviewdog/action-setup is a GitHub action that installs reviewdog. reviewdog/action-setup@v1 was compromised March 11, 2025, between 18:42 and 20:31 UTC, with malicious code added that dumps exposed secrets to Github Actions Workflow Logs. Other reviewdog actions that use `reviewdog/action-setup@v1` that would also be compromised, regardless of version or pinning method, are reviewdog/action-shellcheck, reviewdog/action-composite-template, reviewdog/action-staticcheck, reviewdog/action-ast-grep, and reviewdog/action-typos.