GitHub security watch — 2026-10-21

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 08:05:18 +0000

TL;DR

Deadline: November 12, 2026. The business field in secret scanning audit log events will switch from the enterprise display name to the enterprise slug. Update any integrations that filter on it. (source)
GitHub package firewall is in public preview for GitHub Enterprise Cloud, including data residency. It inspects npm metadata requests and package downloads from Actions runners and coding agents, and blocks malicious ones before they install. (source)
You can now migrate all branch protection rules in a repository to rulesets in one action. (source)
The package firewall setup docs now use the package-firewall.githubapp.com host instead of package-firewall.github.com. (source)

Action required

Secret scanning audit log business field changes on November 12, 2026.
Affected events: secret_scanning_alert.* and secret_scanning_push_protection.bypass.
Change: the business field will contain the enterprise slug instead of the display name. It stays a string.
Unchanged: event names and business_id.
What to do before rollout: update SIEM rules and automations that filter by display name. Either accept both formats or switch to business_id. (source)
Package firewall early adopters: check your registry host. The setup docs now show https://package-firewall.githubapp.com/npm/enterprises/ENTERPRISE instead of package-firewall.github.com, both for .npmrc and for npm config. If you configured endpoints from an earlier version of the docs, confirm they match the current guidance. (commit, doc)

Security improvements

Package firewall (public preview) (source)
What it does: acts as a proxy between endpoints (Actions runners, coding agents) and upstream registries. It targets install-time attacks that harvest credentials on CI/CD hosts.
Policy controls:
- a configurable cooldown period
- GitHub Advisory Database checks for malware and vulnerabilities
- supply-chain checks such as attestation downgrades
False positives: users can request an exception through a workflow similar to other GitHub Advanced Security features.
Limitations: npm only for now. Endpoints must be explicitly configured to route through the firewall.
Cost: free during preview. At general availability it will be billed on metered usage, similar to Actions.
Secret scanning updates (source)
Base64-encoded tokens: the revocation action (public preview) now automatically decodes Base64-encoded PATs (classic and fine-grained), OAuth tokens, and GitHub App user access tokens. This applies to private and internal repos on github.com.
Custom patterns: open alerts now stay open when a rescan still matches an edited custom pattern, instead of closing and reopening.
Dismissal-request webhooks: payloads now include exemption_request.number, so you can correlate requests across integrations.
Fixes:
- Bypass-request API and webhook payloads no longer have empty secret-type and location details for command-line pushes.
- Delegated bypass no longer fails pushes or returns 500 errors because of organization-role reviewer entries.
- The custom pattern API now returns 422 instead of 500 for invalid input.
Bulk migration to rulesets (source)
Where: Settings → Rulesets → Import branch protection rules.
Before you confirm, the review dialog lets you:
- preview the rulesets that will be created
- see which rules an existing ruleset already covers
- choose the enforcement status (Active, Evaluate, or Disabled)
Afterwards, you choose whether to keep or delete the original rules.
Tip: create rulesets in Evaluate first to roll out safely.
Dependabot alerts REST API (source)
New field: dependency.version_requirement gives the recorded version or constraint in your repo.
Where it appears: alert endpoints and dependabot_alert webhooks.
Caveats: it may be null, may show only one of several vulnerable versions, and long constraints may be truncated.
Availability: coming to GitHub Enterprise Server 3.24.
Dependabot package manager support: Dependabot now supports npm 12, pnpm 11 and 12, and Bun 1.4. (source)

Docs changes worth reading

Protecting endpoints with package firewall
The npm configuration examples now use the package-firewall.githubapp.com host. The commit title describes this as a revert.
The Artifactory remote-repository URL step was also edited, but the provided diff is truncated, so the final value isn't visible here. (commit)
CodeQL CLI generate overlay-changes
The intro now gives the command's full purpose: it generates a file for the --overlay-changes option of codeql database create when extracting an overlay database. (commit)
Skipped as non-substantive:
link updates in the MCP push-protection docs
--model-packs heading formatting fixes in the CodeQL CLI manual (commit)