Securing our home labs: Home Assistant code review

In July, the GitHub Security Lab team conducted an audit of the Home Assistant smart-home platform, a popular open-source software used by many for smart home management, to identify security vulnerabilities. This collaborative review emphasized the importance of securing developer home labs, as they can be potential targets for supply chain attacks. The audit focused on understanding Home Assistant's architecture, identifying attack surfaces, and reviewing authentication and authorization processes. Several vulnerabilities were discovered, including issues in Android and iOS/macOS applications, OAuth2 client handling, and potential server-side request forgery. The team also explored the CI/CD pipeline and identified expression injection vulnerabilities in GitHub Actions. The Home Assistant team responded promptly to these findings, implementing fixes to improve security. The audit underscores the need for regular updates, secure remote access, network segmentation, and using trusted components to safeguard Home Assistant installations and protect smart homes from potential risks.