GitHub Actions Adds cache-mode to Limit Cache Poisoning Risk

GitHub Actions has introduced cache-mode, a least-privilege setting designed to reduce cache poisoning risks by controlling cache access at the workflow or job level. The feature offers read, write, write-only, and none modes, with read-only as the default for lower-trust events such as pull_request_target and write access for trusted push events; job-level settings override workflow-level settings, and reusable workflows cannot gain more access than their callers permit. Cache poisoning can allow attackers to place malicious artifacts in a shared cache that later execute in trusted workflows, a method linked to compromises involving Ultralytics and TanStack packages. GitHub added write-only after security feedback to allow trusted branches to populate caches without restoring potentially compromised entries, and recommends disabling cache access entirely for AI agent workflows that may process untrusted issue or pull request content. While cache-mode strengthens cache protections, it does not address other GitHub Actions threats, including executing untrusted code, package lifecycle scripts, or workflows that mint OIDC tokens.

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