CVE-2026-32946

Egress Policy Bypass via DNS over TCP in Harden-Runner (Community Tier)

Published Mar 20, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 4.6 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Harden-Runner is a CI/CD security agent that works like an EDR for GitHub Actions runners. In versions 2.15.1 and below, the Harden-Runner that allows bypass of the egress-policy: block network restriction using DNS queries over TCP. Egress policies are enforced on GitHub runners by filtering outbound connections at the network layer. When egress-policy: block is enabled with a restrictive allowed-endpoints list (e.g., only github.com:443), all non-compliant traffic should be denied. However, DNS queries over TCP, commonly used for large responses or fallback from UDP, are not adequately restricted. Tools like dig can explicitly initiate TCP-based DNS queries (+tcp flag) without being blocked. This vulnerability requires the attacker to already have code execution capabilities within the GitHub Actions workflow. The issue has been fixed in version 2.16.0.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-g699-3x6g-wm3g Egress Policy Bypass via DNS over TCP in Harden-Runner (Community Tier)
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Stepsecurity
Stepsecurity harden-runner
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:stepsecurity:harden-runner:*:*:*:*:community:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Stepsecurity
Stepsecurity harden-runner
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 2.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-791
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'}

threat_severity

Moderate

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Step Security
Step Security harden Runner
Vendors & Products Step Security
Step Security harden Runner
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Harden-Runner is a CI/CD security agent that works like an EDR for GitHub Actions runners. In versions 2.15.1 and below, the Harden-Runner that allows bypass of the egress-policy: block network restriction using DNS queries over TCP. Egress policies are enforced on GitHub runners by filtering outbound connections at the network layer. When egress-policy: block is enabled with a restrictive allowed-endpoints list (e.g., only github.com:443), all non-compliant traffic should be denied. However, DNS queries over TCP, commonly used for large responses or fallback from UDP, are not adequately restricted. Tools like dig can explicitly initiate TCP-based DNS queries (+tcp flag) without being blocked. This vulnerability requires the attacker to already have code execution capabilities within the GitHub Actions workflow. The issue has been fixed in version 2.16.0.
Title Egress Policy Bypass via DNS over TCP in Harden-Runner (Community Tier)
Weaknesses CWE-693
CWE-863
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 4.6, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Mar 20, 2026, 3:47 PM
Reserved
Mar 17, 2026, 12:05 AM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Mar 20, 2026, 4:16 AM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 10:36 AM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Mar 20, 2026, 3:58 AM