CVE-2026-64652

Summary

A security vulnerability has been identified in GitHub CLI where gh auth status could potentially print a portion of the authentication token in plaintext, depending on the lexical structure of the token.

Affected users:

• Authenticated users who ran gh auth status (without the --show-token flag) with a token type whose format contains an underscore after the prefix. This includes fine-grained personal access tokens (github_pat_*) and GitHub App installation/user access tokens (ghs_*, ghu_*, e.g., ghs_<APPID>_<JWT>), including the Actions GITHUB_TOKEN. Classic tokens such as gho_* and ghp_* have an underscore-free body and are not affected.

Details

The vulnerability stems from the way GitHub CLI masks the authentication token when reporting authentication state:

1. A user runs gh auth status without --show-token, expecting the token to be fully masked.
2. The masking logic redacts only the characters that follow the last underscore in the token, instead of redacting everything after the token prefix.
3. The partially masked token is written to the command output, where it can be captured or shared.

Because gh auth status is a diagnostic command commonly run interactively and inside automated environments, the leaked token characters can end up in CI/CD job logs, terminal scrollback, screen recordings, screenshots, or pasted output shared in bug reports and support requests.

In v2.97.0, GitHub CLI fully masks the token in gh auth status output, preserving only the known token prefix and redacting the remainder unless --show-token is explicitly provided.

Impact

Running gh auth status in a context where the output is captured, logged, or shared could leak a portion of an affected token. The affected token types are fine-grained personal access tokens (github_pat_*) and GitHub App installation/user access tokens (ghs_*, ghu_*, e.g., ghs_<APPID>_<JWT>), including the Actions GITHUB_TOKEN. Installation and Actions tokens are short-lived, which narrows the window in which a recovered token could be reused. See GitHub credential types.

Remediation and Mitigation

1. Upgrade gh to v2.97.0.
2. Rotate any affected token whose masked gh auth status output may have been captured or shared:
   • Fine-grained personal access tokens (github_pat_*): regenerate the token from your account settings. See Managing your personal access tokens.
   • GitHub App installation/user access tokens (ghs_*, ghu_*, e.g., ghs_<APPID>_<JWT>): these are short-lived and rotate automatically (See GitHub credential types). If you believe a token was captured while still valid, you can revoke it immediately using the Revoke an installation access token REST endpoint (DELETE /installation/token). To cut off a third-party app's access more broadly, suspend or uninstall the app from the web UI. See Reviewing and modifying installed GitHub Apps.
   • Actions GITHUB_TOKEN: this token is automatically invalidated when the job finishes, so no manual revocation is normally required. See GitHub credential types.
3. Until you can upgrade, avoid running gh auth status in contexts where the output is captured or shared, and manually redact…

GitHub CLI (gh) is GitHub's official command line tool. Prior to version 2.97.0, gh auth status masked only the characters after the last underscore in certain fine-grained personal access tokens and GitHub App tokens. As a result, part of an affected token could appear in terminal or CI output that is captured or shared. Authenticated users are affected if they ran gh auth status (without the --show-token flag) with a token type whose format contains an underscore after the prefix. This includes fine-grained personal access tokens (github_pat_) and GitHub App installation and user access tokens (ghs_, ghu_; for example, ghs_<APPID><JWT>), as well as the Actions GITHUB_TOKEN. Classic tokens such as gho and ghp_* have an underscore-free body and are not affected. This issue is fixed in version 2.97.0.

GitHub CLI (gh) is GitHub's official command line tool. Prior to version 2.97.0, gh auth status masked only the characters after the last underscore in certain fine-grained personal access tokens and GitHub App tokens. As a result, part of an affected token could appear in terminal or CI output that is captured or shared. Authenticated users are affected if they ran gh auth status (without the --show-token flag) with a token type whose format contains an underscore after the prefix. This includes fine-grained personal access tokens (github_pat_) and GitHub App installation and user access tokens (ghs_, ghu_; for example, ghs_<APPID><JWT>), as well as the Actions GITHUB_TOKEN. Classic tokens such as gho and ghp_* have an underscore-free body and are not affected. This issue is fixed in version 2.97.0.

GitHub CLI partially discloses authentication tokens in gh auth status output in github.com/cli/cli

These are all security issues fixed in the gh-2.97.0-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.

This update for gh fixes the following issues:

Changes in gh:

• Update to version 2.98.0:
  • chore: fix extra whitespace
  • Default Codespaces port forwarding to loopback
  • Bump gh-aw-actions to v0.87.1 and recompile workflows
  • Fix issue triage action compatibility
  • chore(deps): bump golang.org/x/crypto from 0.54.0 to 0.55.0
  • chore: bump go to 1.26.7 (#14205)
  • chore(deps): bump the codeql-actions group across 1 directory with 3 updates
  • chore(deps): bump github.com/stretchr/testify from 1.11.1 to 1.12.1
  • Revert "ci: add temporary step to verify Linux repo signing keys"
  • ci: add temporary step to verify Linux repo signing keys
  • Accept pre-release tags in deployment validation (#14193)
  • chore: sign APT repositories with both keys
  • chore(deps): bump charm.land/lipgloss/v2 from 2.0.5 to 2.0.6
  • chore(deps): bump the aw-actions group with 2 updates
  • chore(deps): bump github.com/klauspost/compress from 1.19.1 to 1.19.2
  • Bump Go to 1.26.6
  • Upgrade gh-aw workflows to v0.85.4
  • chore(deps): bump github.com/google/go-containerregistry
  • chore(deps): bump google.golang.org/protobuf from 1.36.11 to 1.36.12
  • Address review: drop cleanup markers, document search-type in skill
  • Reconcile feature detection cleanup comment rules in AGENTS.md
  • Update AGENTS.md with cleanup comment guidance
  • Address review feedback
  • Add --search-type flag for semantic and hybrid issue search
  • Rename config mock constructors to match repo convention
  • Document when to use the config mock or the isolated config
  • Accept config content in NewIsolatedTestConfig
  • Clear auth environment variables in isolated test config
  • Isolate git config in tests that shell out to git
  • Rename config stub file to test.go
  • chore(deps): bump the aw-actions group with 2 updates
  • Add aw-actions group to dependabot configuration
  • Rename cli-code-reviewer skill to code-review (#14116)
  • chore(deps): bump github/gh-aw-actions/setup-cli from 0.83.4 to 0.85.4
  • Reduce item-add test diff
  • Isolate item-add test mocks
  • Test item-add output through command path
  • Run lint workflow when the lint workflow changes
  • Bump golangci-lint in CI to v2.12.2
  • Clarify PR testing section expectations
  • chore(deps): bump the codeql-actions group across 1 directory with 3 updates
  • chore(deps): bump azure/login from 3.0.0 to 3.0.1
  • chore(deps): bump actions/attest from 4.2.1 to 4.2.2
  • Use reflect.Pointer instead of deprecated reflect.Ptr
  • Add a scheduled tech debt burndown skill (#14095)
  • Restore automatic spam issue closure (#14088)
  • Give Dependabot triage a real reachability check (#14087)
  • Route release deletions through api.Client (#14077)
  • chore(deps): bump google.golang.org/grpc from 1.82.1 to 1.83.0
  • chore(deps): bump github.com/google/go-containerregistry
  • Grant the gate the scopes its CI read needs
  • Keep pre-flight dedup out of the integrity proxy
  • Key direct/indirect off the // indirect comment
  • Gate triager confidence on required evidence
  • Gate Dependabot triage on deterministic pre-flight check
  • Set GH_EXTENSION=1 when gh invokes an extension
  • Tell agents to use the PR template in AGENTS.md
  • Merge pull request #14062 from cli/williammartin-wp-08-release-create
  • Route extension requests through api.Client (#14059)
  • Route autolink requests through api.Client (#14013)
  • chore(deps): bump the codeql-actions group across 1 directory with 3 updates
  • fix(release create): trim spaces when parsing X-Oauth-Scopes
  • Match worktree rev-parse stub against absolute path on Windows
  • fix(pr/checkout): pass -- before worktree path so dash paths work
  • docs(pr/checkout): add worktree usage example to help text
  • docs(skills): mention pr checkout worktree support
  • chore(pr checkout): polish worktree related tests
  • Route gpg key requests through api.Client (#13997)
  • Use generated key in ssh-key acceptance test
  • Route ssh key…