GitHub Actions Security Review
Your pipeline can deploy to production, so anyone who can influence your pipeline can too. We pen test the workflows that run untrusted input, the actions you never pinned, and the secrets a fork can reach. CREST-certified testers, fixed price from £2,880, scoped in 24 hours.
- Unlimited retesting
- No rescheduling or cancellation fees
- Fixed quote within 24 hours
“I would highly recommend EJN Labs to any organisation seeking reliable, detailed, and well-managed penetration testing services, particularly for government or enterprise-level projects.”
Imran SaghirProject Lead, SquareOne“There wasn’t another company we could find that could deliver what we needed in the timeframe we needed. The client loved it, and we got instant ROI from the engagement.”
Dan WilcocksonCo-Founder, CelloriA workflow with deployment credentials is production infrastructure that happens to be written in YAML and reviewed less carefully than application code. Compromising it skips every control you built around the application itself.
Why the pipeline is production
The classic failure is script injection. A workflow that interpolates a pull request title, branch name or issue body directly into a run step executes whatever an outside contributor typed, on a runner holding your secrets. The pull_request_target trigger makes this materially worse by running against the base repository with full secret access.
After that it is supply chain and scope. Third-party actions referenced by mutable tag rather than commit SHA, secrets available to workflows that have no need for them, and OIDC trust policies in AWS or Azure that accept any workflow from the repository rather than a specific one.
ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS and Cyber Essentials Plus audits accept manual penetration test evidence. Scan-only evidence is generally insufficient.
WORKFLOWS, SECRETS + OIDC
What we actually pen test on a GitHub Actions setup
Manual pen testing across workflow injection, pull request trigger handling, secret and OIDC scope, third-party action supply chain and runner isolation.
Workflow script injection
Every workflow checked for untrusted input reaching run steps, script contexts or action inputs, including pull request titles and bodies, branch and tag names, commit messages and issue content.
Trigger and fork handling
pull_request_target and workflow_run usage, what a fork pull request can reach, whether approval is required for first-time contributors, and whether a forked workflow can exfiltrate secrets.
Secret scope and exposure
Which secrets are available to which workflows and environments, environment protection rules, secret masking in logs, and whether any secret is retrievable through artefact upload or a crafted step.
OIDC and cloud trust policies
Federated trust conditions in AWS, Azure or GCP, whether the subject claim is constrained to specific repositories, branches and environments, and what the assumed role can reach.
Third-party action supply chain
Whether actions are pinned to commit SHA or to mutable tags, the provenance of each third-party action, transitive action dependencies, and what a compromised action would obtain.
Runners and branch protection
Self-hosted runner isolation and reuse between jobs, whether public repositories can schedule work on them, branch protection and required review settings, and who can modify workflow files.
METHODOLOGY
GitHub Actions Security Review: From Scope to Attestation
CREST-aligned methodology built on OWASP Web Security Testing Guide, OWASP ASVS, NIST SP 800-115, and PTES. Each finding maps to all four standards plus your specific compliance regime.
Reconnaissance
Application mapping, technology fingerprinting, content discovery, parameter enumeration, authentication-flow analysis, role-matrix construction.
Vulnerability Assessment
Authenticated and unauthenticated automated scanning across every user role, plus targeted manual checks for known weakness patterns.
Manual Exploitation
Hands-on testing by a CREST-certified pentester. Business-logic exploitation, chained vulnerabilities, privilege escalation, impact validation.
Reporting + Retest
Executive summary, technical report with CVSS scores and reproduction steps, walkthrough call, free retest after remediation, attestation letter.
CREDENTIALS
Verified Accreditations Auditors Accept
Every credential below is independently verifiable. UK procurement teams, FCA supervisors, ISO 27001 / SOC 2 auditors, and cyber insurance underwriters all recognise these standards.
GET YOUR QUOTE
Get a CREST GitHub Actions pen test quote in 24 hours
A fixed-price quote back in one business day, from a named CREST assessor. No sales pipeline, no chasing.
- CREST and IASME accredited. Testing your auditors and clients already recognise.
- Fast-track testing within 24 hours where required. Free retest of every fix included.
- Live findings via your client portal, not a four-week PDF.
- Fixed price from £3,500 for a single-role, single-app scope, agreed up front. Most engagements run £5,000 and up. No day-rate surprises.
Dan WilcocksonCo-Founder, CelloriUnder NDA Further named references available on a scoping call.
- We reply within one business day with a fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor.
- You approve the scope and we book a start date, usually within 24 hours.
- Live findings land in your client portal as we test, with a free retest of every fix.
Get your fixed pen test quote in 24 hours
Quote request received
We will reply within one business day with your fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor.
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or book a 20-min scoping call first
We reply within one business day. Your data stays with us. No newsletter signup.
COMPLIANCE READY
Reports Mapped to Every Framework
Findings are explicitly tagged to the relevant control reference. Your audit team submits the report directly without translation work.
ISO 27001:2022
Annex A.8.8 management of technical vulnerabilities plus A.5.15-5.18 and A.8.2-8.5 access control validation.
SOC 2 Type I & II
CC6 logical access, CC7 system operations, CC8 change management evidence.
PCI DSS
Requirement 11.4 application penetration testing across cardholder data environments, including ecommerce penetration testing for online retail platforms.
FCA SYSC
SYSC 4.1.1R, 6.1.1R, 13 mapped to each finding for FCA-regulated firms.
UK GDPR
Article 32 effectiveness testing, customer-data security controls, ICO-acceptable evidence.
Cyber Essentials Plus
Direct certification through our IASME body status, single-vendor delivery.
PRICING
Transparent GitHub Actions Security Review Pricing
Pricing depends on app complexity, user-role count, business-logic depth, and integration surface. The day count flexes; the included deliverables stay the same across all engagements.
2 to 3 testing days
Single user role, basic CRUD application, marketing website with auth. Around 5 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quote3 to 5 testing days
Multi-role SaaS, business application with payment integration. Around 8 to 12 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quote5 to 7 testing days
Multi-tenant platform, complex authorisation matrix, integration-heavy applications. Around 15 to 20 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quotePart of Technologies We Pen Test. These are examples of the stacks we publish pages for, not a complete list. If yours is not here we still test it. Related pages:
BY SECTOR
GitHub Actions Security Review for Your Sector
Sector-specialist scoping for UK businesses with sector-specific compliance regimes and threat models.
Fintech & FCA-Regulated
FCA SYSC, Open Banking FAPI 1.0, PSD2 SCA, payment-flow scrutiny, KYC/AML testing.
Fintech sector pageSaaS Companies
SOC 2 Type I & II evidence, multi-tenant boundaries, role escalation, customer-tenant isolation.
SaaS sector pageLaw Firms
SRA Cyber Standard, privileged data, conveyancing fraud defence, partner-tier procurement.
Law firm sector pageHealthcare
NHS DTAC, DSP Toolkit v6, UK GDPR Article 32, EHR systems, telehealth platforms.
Healthcare sector pageInsurance
FCA / PRA Operational Resilience, cyber underwriting, claims data, broker portals.
Insurance sector pagePublic Sector
CCS / G-Cloud framework, NCSC-aligned, citizen-facing services, PSN-compliance scrutiny.
Public sector pageWHY EJN LABS
What You Get From GitHub Actions Security Review
Six concrete differentiators competitors don’t all match.
CREST-Certified Testers, Verifiable
Every test by a CREST-certified pen tester (CRT, CCT APP, CCT INF where applicable). Verify our company status at crest-approved.org.
24-Hour Startup, Where Required
From signed scope to active testing in a single business day for incident response, audit deadlines, or regulator-driven timelines.
Live Findings, Not 4-Week PDFs
Critical issues reported during testing through your client portal. Your team remediates while testing continues.
Audit-Ready Reports
Executive summary plus full technical report with CVSS scores and explicit framework mappings (ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, FCA SYSC).
Free Retests, Standard
Verify remediation of every finding before close-out. Letter of attestation for audit submission included. Most competitors charge £1,500-£3,000 per retest.
UK-Based CREST Testers
Every engagement performed by vetted, UK-based CREST-certified testers, matched to your needs, security clearance, and compliance scope.
FAQ
Frequently Asked
Do you need write access to our repositories?
No, and we prefer not to have it. Read access to the workflows and repository settings is enough, and we demonstrate injection paths in a controlled fork rather than against your repository.
Will you actually exploit a finding?
Only with your agreement and in a controlled way. Demonstrating that a workflow executes attacker-controlled input is usually possible without touching a real secret, and we will say clearly where we stopped short and why.
We use self-hosted runners. Does that change things?
Considerably, and usually for the worse. Self-hosted runners persist state between jobs, sit inside your network, and on a public repository can be reached by anyone who opens a pull request. They get particular attention.
Is this a code review?
No. It is a pen test of the pipeline as an attack surface. If you want the application source reviewed line by line, that is our secure code review service and the two complement each other.
What do we receive?
A report mapped to ISO 27001, SOC 2 and Cyber Essentials where relevant, a developer write-up with reproduction steps, and unlimited free retesting until every finding closes.
20+ CREST-accredited testing services in one place
Web, mobile, API, cloud, AI, infrastructure, red team. Pick the test that fits your environment.
Get a fixed price for your pipeline review
Tell us roughly how many repositories and workflows are in scope and whether self-hosted runners are in play. Fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor within one business day.
