A CLI tool for GitHub Actions supply chain security. Pins action references to full SHAs, checks for updates, audits runtime fetch patterns that bypass pinning, and scores repository posture.
The name: pin (SHA pinning) + prick (a small, sharp probe finding tiny holes in your supply chain).
For static analysis of your workflow files — template injection, excessive permissions, credential leaks — use zizmor. It's excellent.
pinprick picks up where static analysis leaves off. SHA-pinning actions is table stakes, but even a pinned action can curl down releases/latest at runtime. pinprick pins your actions, keeps them updated, audits source code for unversioned runtime fetches in shell scripts, JavaScript, Python, and Dockerfiles, and gives you a single score to track over time.
brew install starhaven-io/tap/pinprickcargo install pinprickDownload a prebuilt binary from GitHub Releases.
To try unreleased changes from main:
cargo install --git https://github.com/starhaven-io/pinprickFor CI audit runs, use the shipped starhaven-io/pinprick-action. It installs a pinned pinprick release, verifies the archive checksum, runs pinprick audit, and can upload SARIF:
name: GitHub Actions supply chain audit
on:
push:
branches:
- main
workflow_dispatch:
permissions: {}
jobs:
pinprick:
runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
permissions:
security-events: write
contents: read
actions: read
steps:
- name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
with:
persist-credentials: false
- name: Run pinprick
uses: starhaven-io/pinprick-action@a663b6d119c2e5f4ff239bfdf155f50143e67706 # v0.4.2The action wraps pinprick audit only. Use the CLI directly for pin, update, and score. For console-mode pull request feedback, set advanced-security: false; see the action README for the full matrix.
All commands default to the current directory. Pass a path to target a different repository root. Use --json for machine-readable output.
Forge support. GitHub Actions is pinprick's first-class, fully supported target. Forgejo and Gitea run GitHub-compatible Actions, so workflows under
.forgejo/workflows/and.gitea/workflows/are discovered and scanned alongside.github/workflows/(whichever exist are all scanned). That support is incidental to GHA compatibility and best-effort: we won't intentionally break it, but we also won't hold back a GitHub Actions improvement to preserve forge behavior. When the two conflict, GHA wins. Concretely today,pinandupdateresolve through the github.com API, so they handle github.com-hosted actions (the common case) but not actions hosted on a Forgejo or Gitea instance;auditandscoreneed no network for their local rules.
# Pin action tags to full SHAs
pinprick pin
# Write changes to files
pinprick pin --write
# Check pinned actions for newer releases (dry-run)
pinprick update
# Write updates to files
pinprick update --write
# Only check a specific action or org
pinprick update --only actions/checkout
# Audit for runtime fetch patterns that bypass pinning
pinprick audit
# Target a specific repo
pinprick audit /path/to/repo
# Show every matched pattern, including allowed matches
pinprick audit --verbose
# Emit SARIF 2.1.0 for GitHub code scanning
pinprick audit --sarif > pinprick.sarif
# Audit a third-party repo without honoring its own .pinprick.toml
pinprick audit --no-repo-config /path/to/repo
# Score a repository's Actions supply chain posture
pinprick score
# Emit the full score report as JSON or a self-contained HTML report
pinprick --json score
pinprick score --html > report.html
# Emit a shields.io endpoint-badge JSON document for a README badge.
# Incomplete coverage produces a grey error badge instead of a green grade.
pinprick score --badge > badge.json
# Clear locally cached audit results
pinprick clean
# Generate shell completions
pinprick completions zshResolve action tag references to full SHAs (dry-run by default):
$ pinprick pin
.github/workflows/ci.yml
actions/checkout @v7 -> @9c091bb21b7c… # v7.0.0
actions/upload-artifact @v7 -> @043fb46d1a93… # v7.0.1
! actions/checkout@v7 -- sliding tag, resolved to v7.0.0
! Homebrew/actions/setup-homebrew@main -- branch ref — pin to a SHA manually
Would pin 2 actions across 1 file (2 skipped)
Run with --write to apply.
Sliding tags like @v7 are resolved to their exact version. Branch refs like @main are flagged.
Check pinned actions for newer releases (dry-run by default):
$ pinprick update
.github/workflows/ci.yml
actions/checkout v4.1.0 -> v7.0.0
1 update available. Run with --write to apply.
Scan for runtime fetch patterns that bypass pinning:
$ pinprick audit
HIGH .github/workflows/ci.yml:42
action: some/action@abc123de
curl -L "https://github.com/.../releases/latest/download/tool.tar.gz"
curl fetching from a 'latest' URL — can change without notice
1 finding (1 high, 0 medium, 0 low)
Without a GitHub token, audit scans local workflow run: blocks and local actions referenced with uses: ./.... With a token (via GITHUB_TOKEN, GH_TOKEN, or gh auth), it also fetches and scans external action source code — JavaScript, Python, Dockerfiles, and composite action steps.
Pass --sarif to emit SARIF 2.1.0 for upload to GitHub code scanning. Pass --verbose to see every match, including ones that passed the version check or were downgraded to an allowed match by the trusted-host, data-format, jq-pipe, or checksum rules. When auditing a repository you don't control, pass --no-repo-config so the target's own .pinprick.toml can't set the audit policy.
Compute a posture grade against the public, versioned rubric in docs/scoring.md:
$ pinprick score
pinprick score v0.9.0 rubric
Grade: A (95 / 100)
Findings (1 unique, 1 occurrences):
medium -5 pin.sliding actions/checkout@v4
3 workflows scanned, 8 unique actions.
Run with --json for the full report.
score exits 1 only when at least one finding deducts points. Use pinprick score --html > report.html for a shareable static report.
A .pinprick.toml at the repo root (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/pinprick/config.toml, default ~/.config/pinprick/config.toml, globally) customizes behavior. All keys are optional:
# Minimum severity to report: "low" (default), "medium", or "high"
severity = "low"
# Fetch the audited-actions catalog from pinprick.rs instead of only using
# the bundle compiled into the binary. Useful in CI.
fetch-remote = false
# Hosts whose unversioned URL fetches are downgraded to allowed matches.
# Case-insensitive exact match. Only applies to the unversioned-URL rules.
trusted-hosts = ["crates.io"]
# Extra file extensions (beyond .json/.yaml/.toml/.csv/.tsv/.xml/.md/.rst/.txt)
# to treat as data formats for the unversioned-URL exemption.
extra-data-formats = ["proto"]
[ignore]
# Skip these actions entirely (prefix match on owner/repo).
actions = ["actions/checkout"]
# Suppress findings whose description contains any of these strings.
patterns = []Remove locally cached audit results ($XDG_CACHE_HOME/pinprick/audited/, default ~/.cache/pinprick/audited/):
$ pinprick clean
Cache cleaned.
| Category | Examples | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Pipe-to-shell | curl/wget piped to sh/bash/python (any URL) |
High |
| Pipe-to-shell | bash <(curl ...), bash -c "$(curl ...)", eval "$(curl ...)" |
High |
| Pipe-to-shell | PowerShell iex (iwr ...) / Invoke-Expression (... DownloadString ...) |
High |
| Shell | curl/wget to /latest/ URLs |
High |
| Shell | curl/wget to unversioned URLs |
Medium |
| Shell | gh release download without a tag |
Medium |
| Shell | git clone without a pinned --branch ref (unless a git checkout <sha> follows within 3 lines) |
Medium |
| Shell | go install @latest, unpinned pip/npm/cargo install/gem install |
Low |
| PowerShell | Invoke-WebRequest/iwr/irm to /latest/ URLs |
High |
| PowerShell | Invoke-WebRequest/iwr/irm to unversioned URLs |
Medium |
| JavaScript | fetch()/axios/got to /latest/ URLs |
High |
| JavaScript | exec("curl ..."), child_process curl |
High |
| Python | requests.get/urllib to /latest/ URLs |
High |
| Python | subprocess shelling out to curl/wget |
High |
| Docker | FROM :latest or untagged |
High |
| Docker | RUN curl/wget piped to a shell |
High |
| Docker | curl/wget in RUN instructions |
Medium |
| Docker | ADD with an http(s):// URL source |
Medium |
Pipe-to-shell is flagged even when the URL is versioned — a piped payload is never written to disk, so it cannot be checksum-verified and the versioned path pins the URL but not the content.
Unversioned-URL rules don't fire when the URL's path ends in a data-format extension (.json, .yaml, .toml, .csv, etc.), or when the fetch is piped into jq — the payload is consumed as data, not executed. These matches are only visible under --verbose. (Pipe-to-shell takes precedence, so curl … | jq … | bash is still flagged.)
Findings followed within 3 lines by checksum verification (sha256sum --check, gpg --verify, etc.) are suppressed only when the command performs an actual comparison or signature check, does not mask failure with ||, and names every downloaded target, a target-specific sidecar such as tool.sha256, or an inline manifest piped to the verifier. Merely calculating a hash, checking an unrelated file, or using a generic manifest whose contents cannot be inspected does not suppress findings. Verified matches are recorded as allowed under --verbose. Pipe-to-shell findings are exempt; the piped payload is never written to disk for a checksum to verify.
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 0 | Clean — no findings, no pending updates |
| 1 | Findings present (audit), score deductions present, or updates available (update dry-run) |
| 2 | Error |
A justfile provides common tasks:
just build # Build the project
just build-release # Build in release mode
just test # Run tests
just clippy # Run clippy
just fmt # Format code
just typos # Check for typos
just audit # Audit GitHub Actions workflows
just check # Run all checks (clippy, fmt, typos, zizmor, test, site)
just install-hooks # Install git hooks: pre-push check + DCO sign-off (once per clone)Commits must follow Conventional Commits format and include a DCO sign-off (git commit -s). Run just install-hooks once per clone to enable the git hooks (a pre-push just check and DCO sign-off enforcement).
This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0-only).
Copyright (C) 2026 Patrick Linnane