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fix(pins): see what a Docker action executes, not only what it uses - #185

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rldyourmnd merged 1 commit into
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fix/docker-action-images
Aug 15, 2026
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fix(pins): see what a Docker action executes, not only what it uses#185
rldyourmnd merged 1 commit into
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fix/docker-action-images

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Closes the gap #173 reported. Filed by an agent auditing macos-ubuntu-bootstrap's
consumption of these reusables — the cause was here, and it was in code I had just
rewritten.

The gap

The corrected walk (#179) collects uses: references from the parsed document at any
nesting. A Docker action does not have one. It names what it executes under
runs.image:

# ossf/scorecard-action@2d1146689b8cda280b9bc96326124645441f03bc/action.yaml
runs:
  using: "docker"
  image: "docker://ghcr.io/ossf/scorecard-action:v2.4.4"

Verified against my own parser before fixing it:

refs my parser extracts: set()

The action is pinned by commit SHA. The image is addressed by tag. Retagging it
changes what every consumer executes while every pin in this tree still looks
immutable.

Five, not two

The issue named Scorecard and one other. With the shape visible, the walk finds:

action image reached from
ossf/scorecard-action ghcr.io/ossf/scorecard-action:v2.4.4 3 scorecard workflows
bridgecrewio/checkov-action ghcr.io/bridgecrewio/checkov:3.3.9 iac-scan.yml
wagoid/commitlint-github-action wagoid/commitlint-github-action:6.2.1 pr-hygiene.yml
google/clusterfuzzlite/…/build_fuzzers gcr.io/oss-fuzz-base/…-build-fuzzers:v1 clusterfuzzlite.yml
google/clusterfuzzlite/…/run_fuzzers gcr.io/oss-fuzz-base/…-run-fuzzers:v1 clusterfuzzlite.yml

Two ClusterFuzzLite entries are on a floating major — the weakest of the set.

Recorded, not accepted

None can be pinned from here without forking the action. catalog/action-images.yml
records each with the workflows that reach it and what a consumer is exposed to.

This is deliberately the shape KNOWN_UNTAGGED already uses in
check_release_ledger.py, and for the same stated reason: an advisory tier that is
permanently red is an advisory nobody reads.
Recording keeps the exposure reviewable
in the catalog instead of invisible in a sweep everyone learns to skip.

The contract runs both ways:

Mutation Result
a recorded exposure is deleted RED (caught)
an entry the tree does not reach is added RED (caught)

So the list cannot quietly stop describing the graph, in either direction.

Left alone deliberately

An image: naming a Dockerfile is built from the action's own source at the pinned
commit, so it introduces nothing new. Covered by a self-test.

Verification

  • 14 self-tests over in-memory graphs, no network — now including tag-addressed,
    digest-addressed and Dockerfile-built images
  • validate_all — all tiers OK with GH_TOKEN · actionlint — clean

The corrected walk collected `uses:` references at any nesting. A Docker action
does not have one -- it names what it runs under `runs.image`. So
ossf/scorecard-action, pinned here by commit SHA, ended its action.yaml with
`image: "docker://ghcr.io/ossf/scorecard-action:v2.4.4"`, a tag, and the walk
extracted nothing from it at all.

Reported from a consuming repository as #173, which named two cases. Once the
walk could see the shape it found five: Scorecard across three workflows,
Checkov, commitlint, and both ClusterFuzzLite actions on a floating v1.

None can be pinned from here without forking the action, so
catalog/action-images.yml records each with what a consumer is exposed to.
Recording is not accepting: it is the shape KNOWN_UNTAGGED already uses, and
for the same reason -- an advisory tier that is permanently red is an advisory
nobody reads. The contract runs both ways, so an undeclared tag-addressed
image is a finding and a recorded one the tree no longer reaches unpinned is a
finding too.

An `image:` naming a Dockerfile is built from the action's own source at the
pinned commit and introduces nothing new.
@github-actions github-actions Bot added ci Continuous integration and removed ci Continuous integration labels Aug 15, 2026
@rldyourmnd
rldyourmnd merged commit 9f319bc into main Aug 15, 2026
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@rldyourmnd
rldyourmnd deleted the fix/docker-action-images branch August 15, 2026 01:50
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