actions / actions/setup-python

Forced pip update raises supply chain safety concerns (and is often useless)

オープン
#1,346 コメント 12 件 リアクション 0 件 担当者 0 名 GitHub で見る

まだ誰も着手していません。

feature request
主要言語
TypeScript
スター
2.2k
フォーク
739
平均マージ
6日 18時間
マージ済み PR(30日)
1

説明

Description:

As of v6.3.0, setup-python appears to unconditionally auto-update pip, without a dependency cooldown.
Even when a pip-version input is specified, setup-python seemingly updates pip to the latest version first, then installs the specified version.

This behavior raises supply chain safety concerns: If pip itself were subject to a supply chain attack,[^1] any callers of setup-python would be immediately affected during the attack window of opportunity.

Also, updating pip on user level seems pointless when virtual environments are used (which you should), because (AFAIK) venvs are initialized with python's bootstrap copy of pip, not site-packages pip.
However, note that merely not calling setup-python's updated pip does not resolve these concerns, because an attacker might upload only an sdist of pip, which would allow for install-time execution of the hypothetical attack.

To be clear, we all hope that this scenario stays entirely hypothetical, but the point is that setup-python is not following safety best practices here, rsp. does not even allow the caller to do so.

Proposed remediation:

  • Add an option to let the caller opt out of pip auto-updating entirely (given that it is pointless when a venv is used).
  • Subject the default behavior of auto-updating pip to a dependency cooldown, ideally configurable through an input.
    Suggested default: 3 days, like dependabot, or anything non-zero really.
  • When a pip-version is specified, install the given version right away without first updating to latest.

Note that updating pip itself with a cooldown is complicated by the fact that pip versions before 26 do not support --uploaded-prior-to, PIP_UPLOADED_PRIOR_TO etc.
This can basically be worked around by updating to a pinned and hash-checked version first, then updating with cooldown.
The following script shows how to do this: https://github.com/pypdfium2-team/pypdfium2/blob/811faae77f8fc90bc57832bc6400c65fd9f4fbee/utils/update_pip.py

Justification:
Supply chain safety, see the description above.

Are you willing able to submit a PR?

No, I am not a typescript programmer and not familiar with setup-python's internals.

Edit: Submitted https://github.com/actions/python-versions/pull/406 after all, a simple patch to avoid possible setup-time code execution when updating pip. This should stuff a key loophole and allow an aware caller to be unaffected, but otherwise the issue still stands.

[^1]: Hypothetical and hopefully highly unlikely, but no project is per se immune to it, and you have to acknowledge that pip would be a very lucrative target for a supply chain attack, so downstream precautions seem important.

コントリビューションガイド

このリポジトリのコントリビューションガイドは索引されていません

はじめの一歩

  1. issue を最後まで読み、次にプロジェクトのコントリビューションガイドを読みます。
  2. 着手することを issue にコメントします — 二人が同じ作業をするのを防げます。
  3. リポジトリをフォークし、ブランチを切って変更します。
  4. issue 番号を参照したプルリクエストを送ります。

調査の方向性

ソースファイル、テスト、エントリーポイントは指定されていません。まず、setup-python の pip 自動更新パスと pip-version 入力の処理方法を追跡してください。完了条件は、呼び出し元がオプトアウトでき、最新バージョンへの無条件の更新を回避し、提案されたクールダウンを安全に適用できることです。

索引モデルが issue の本文から書いたものです。

評価

技術スタック
github-actions, python, typescript
領域
ci-cd, devops, security
issue の種類
機能追加
難易度
5/5
見積もり時間
1週間以上
活発さ
静か
明瞭さ
おおむね明確
初心者へのやさしさ
35/100

新しい issue をメールで受け取る

初心者向けの GitHub issue を短くまとめたダイジェスト。