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Validate checkout_path input in analyze action - #4148

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@mbg

@mbg mbg commented Sep 16, 2026

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The checkout_path input of the analyze action must be set to the path at which the repository that is being analysed is checked out at if it is not the workspace root. However, currently we do not perform any kind of validation of the checkout_path input to ensure that it actually points at a valid Git repository, which may lead to unexpected and difficult-to-observe results.

This PR makes the following changes:

  • The init action persists the discovered repository root in the CodeQL Action configuration state, if any.
  • The analyze action now performs the following validation on the checkout_path input value and warns if a check fails:
    • That checkout_path refers to a path in the work tree of a Git repository.
    • That checkout_path refers to the root of a Git repository.
    • That the repository root pointed at by checkout_path matches that stored by the init action, if any.

Risk assessment

For internal use only. Please select the risk level of this change:

  • High risk: Changes are not fully under feature flags, have limited visibility and/or cannot be tested outside of production.

Which use cases does this change impact?

Workflow types:

  • Advanced setup - Impacts users who have custom CodeQL workflows.
  • Managed - Impacts users with dynamic workflows (Default Setup, Code Quality, ...).

Products:

  • Code Scanning - The changes impact analyses when analysis-kinds: code-scanning.
  • Code Quality - The changes impact analyses when analysis-kinds: code-quality.
  • Other first-party - The changes impact other first-party analyses.
  • Third-party analyses - The changes affect the upload-sarif action.

Environments:

  • Dotcom - Impacts CodeQL workflows on github.com and/or GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Data Residency.
  • GHES - Impacts CodeQL workflows on GitHub Enterprise Server.

How did/will you validate this change?

  • Unit tests - I am depending on unit test coverage (i.e. tests in .test.ts files).
  • End-to-end tests - I am depending on PR checks (i.e. tests in pr-checks).

If something goes wrong after this change is released, what are the mitigation and rollback strategies?

  • Feature flags - All new or changed code paths can be fully disabled with corresponding feature flags.
  • Rollback - Change can only be disabled by rolling back the release or releasing a new version with a fix.

How will you know if something goes wrong after this change is released?

  • Telemetry - I rely on existing telemetry or have made changes to the telemetry.
    • Dashboards - I will watch relevant dashboards for issues after the release. Consider whether this requires this change to be released at a particular time rather than as part of a regular release.
    • Alerts - New or existing monitors will trip if something goes wrong with this change.

Are there any special considerations for merging or releasing this change?

  • No special considerations - This change can be merged at any time.

Merge / deployment checklist

  • Confirm this change is backwards compatible with existing workflows.
  • Consider adding a changelog entry for this change.
  • Confirm the readme and docs have been updated if necessary.

@mbg mbg self-assigned this Sep 16, 2026
@github-actions github-actions Bot added the size/M Should be of average difficulty to review label Sep 16, 2026
@mbg
mbg force-pushed the mbg/improve-checkout-path branch from eecc9cd to 9a59042 Compare September 16, 2026 16:01
@github-actions github-actions Bot added size/XL May be very hard to review and removed size/M Should be of average difficulty to review labels Sep 16, 2026
@mbg
mbg force-pushed the mbg/improve-checkout-path branch from 9a59042 to 39bbd41 Compare September 22, 2026 10:25
@mbg
mbg changed the base branch from main to mbg/refactor/checkout-path September 22, 2026 10:25
@mbg
mbg added this pull request to stack #4158 September 22, 2026 10:25
@github-actions github-actions Bot added size/L May be hard to review size/XL May be very hard to review and removed size/XL May be very hard to review size/L May be hard to review labels Sep 22, 2026
@mbg
mbg force-pushed the mbg/improve-checkout-path branch from 39bbd41 to b07d4ae Compare September 22, 2026 10:42
@github-actions github-actions Bot added size/L May be hard to review size/XL May be very hard to review and removed size/XL May be very hard to review size/L May be hard to review labels Sep 22, 2026
@mbg
mbg marked this pull request as ready for review September 22, 2026 11:10
@mbg
mbg requested a review from a team as a code owner September 22, 2026 11:10
Copilot AI balanced review requested due to automatic review settings September 22, 2026 11:10

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Warning

  • Copilot's review of this pull request may be incomplete because some of the changed files are excluded by your Copilot content exclusion settings. See Excluding content from Copilot for details.

Copilot review overview

🟡 Changes recommended

Path comparison can produce false warnings on Windows, and several updated Git tests no longer stub the intended calls.

Get a fresh assessment by requesting another Copilot review.

Review effort: Balanced
Findings: 2 Medium severity · 1 Low severity

Open (3)
What changed in this PR

Adds validation for the analyze action’s checkout_path and persists the repository root for consistent Git operations.

Changes:

  • Persists and propagates the detected repository root.
  • Validates checkout_path and emits actionable warnings.
  • Refactors Git helpers to accept explicit environment and checkout context.
File Description
src/​analyze.ts Adds checkout-path validation.
src/​analyze-action.ts Integrates validation into analysis.
src/​analyze-action.test.ts Updates analyze-action fixtures.
src/​actions-util.ts Accepts read-only environments.
src/​codeql.ts Uses persisted repository root.
src/​config/​action-config.ts Adds repository-root state.
src/​config-utils.ts Discovers and propagates repository root.
src/​config-utils.test.ts Updates configuration tests.
src/​database-upload.ts Passes environment and checkout path to Git helpers.
src/​environment.ts Adds bulk environment-variable assignment.
src/​git-utils.ts Makes Git context explicit.
src/​git-utils.test.ts Updates Git helper tests.
src/​init-action-post-helper.ts Uses persisted root for failed SARIF.
src/​init-action-post.ts Uses repository root for branch detection.
src/​overlay/​caching.ts Passes environment to commit lookup.
src/​status-report.ts Uses repository root for ref detection.
src/​testing-utils.ts Adds repository-root test defaults.
src/​trap-caching.ts Uses repository root for cache decisions.
src/​trap-caching.test.ts Updates cache helper invocation.
src/​upload-lib.ts Passes environment and checkout path to Git helpers.
src/​workflow.ts Resolves repository roots from persisted state or workflow inputs.
src/​workflow.test.ts Tests repository-root resolution.
lib/​entry-points.js Generated bundle; excluded from review.
Files excluded by content exclusion policy (1)
  • lib/entry-points.js

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Comment thread src/analyze.ts Outdated
Comment thread src/git-utils.test.ts
Comment on lines 36 to +37
const callback = sinon.stub(gitUtils, "getCommitOid");
callback.withArgs("HEAD").resolves(currentSha);
callback.withArgs(sinon.match.any, "HEAD").resolves(currentSha);
Comment thread src/analyze.ts Outdated
Base automatically changed from mbg/refactor/checkout-path to main September 22, 2026 14:16
@mbg
mbg force-pushed the mbg/improve-checkout-path branch from 1f60da6 to c4bb0cf Compare September 22, 2026 14:16
@mbg
mbg force-pushed the mbg/improve-checkout-path branch from c4bb0cf to 9f57eb3 Compare September 22, 2026 15:25

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