github / github/codeql

Rule tags in SARIF file exceed limits

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Description

Originally reported [here](https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/144318). I thought I had fixed it by deleting all previous scans and isolating codeql to its own action, but it's come back in multiple repos

### Question

I'm working on [MAPIStubLibrary](https://github.com/microsoft/MAPIStubLibrary). On my security tab, I've got a warning:
`Code scanning: one or more analysis tools are reporting problems
CodeQL is reporting warnings. Check the [status page](https://github.com/microsoft/MAPIStubLibrary/security/code-scanning/tools/CodeQL/status/configurations/api/74a8c85dff2dda02661ba4c491e7edc7db4d2491e021ce53e5df7e05ec472af1) for help.`

When I follow that link, I see this:
`Rule tags in SARIF file exceed limits
The rule SM01718 in an uploaded SARIF file had 11 tags which is more than our limit of 10. Only 10 tags were stored for that rule, the additional ones were ignored.`

`You can edit the @tags metadata property of your query and remove some tags.`

`[Learn more about CodeQL query metadata](https://codeql.github.com/docs/writing-codeql-queries/metadata-for-codeql-queries/).
[Learn more about limits in SARIF uploads](https://docs.github.com/en/code-security/code-scanning/integrating-with-code-scanning/sarif-support-for-code-scanning#validating-your-sarif-file).`

But there are no details about what SARIF file caused this problem, or how I could go about locating this file. I can't even identify which action is supposed to have generated this broken file.

As far as I'm aware, actions generate SARIF files, but they "upload" them to some nebulous location github where no one can actually view them. I've never actually seen a SARIF file myself. I tried configuring an action to SARIF files to artifacts but got a file sharing violation. The documentation on SARIF result limits does list this warning but has no prescriptive guidance on dealing with it.

So - **what am I actually supposed to do about this warning?** How do I determine which action is triggering it? Is there some way to see the SARIF files we're generating in our actions so we can try to analyze why they may be triggering the warning?

Screenshot of the warning:
![image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/913358ba-96a6-4d30-8e53-82980905acba)
When I click on last scan it just takes me to a commit. Under the ... I have an option to "Download list of rules used" which gives me a file that looks like this:
Configuration,Rule Source,Sarif Identifier,Alerts
"",CodeQL (2.19.2),SM01718,0
"",CodeQL (2.19.2),SM01733,0
"",CodeQL (2.19.2),SM01921,0
"",CodeQL (2.19.2),SM01922,0
"",CodeQL (2.19.2),SM01923,0
...
I can't find SM01718 anywhere else on the internet, except it's also the same rule being reported for [MFCMAPI](https://github.com/microsoft/mfcmapi)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the CodeQL query metadata and SARIF upload-limit documentation linked in the issue, then investigate the CodeQL workflow and the scan status page for rule SM01718. Reproduce or trace the warning across the affected repositories and determine how the generating action and SARIF file can be identified. Done means the documentation gives users concrete steps to find the source and inspect the file.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
github-actions
Domain
documentation, security
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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