fix: Potential fix for code scanning alert no. 4: Untrusted Checkout TOCTOU

[yacosta738]

Potential fix for https://github.com/dallay/starter-gradle/security/code-scanning/4

In general, to fix an Untrusted Checkout TOCTOU issue in a GitHub Actions workflow, you should ensure that any privileged job that runs code from a pull request checks out that code using an immutable reference (a commit SHA) rather than a mutable reference (branch name or PR ref). That way, even if the attacker pushes new commits to the branch after the security decision (e.g., comment or approval), the workflow will still operate on the reviewed commit. Any subsequent commands (gradlew, npm, etc.) will then execute only that immutable version of the code.

For this specific workflow, the best fix is to change the actions/checkout step at lines 70–76 so that it uses steps.get-pr-data.outputs.head_sha as the ref instead of steps.get-pr-data.outputs.head_branch. The job already has a 🔍 Verify checked-out commit step that compares HEAD to head_sha; once we check out directly by SHA, that verification becomes redundant, because actions/checkout will either succeed at that commit or fail. We can keep the verification step if desired (for defense in depth), but it is no longer strictly necessary. Importantly, we do not need to change any subsequent steps (Setup Node, Setup Java, Setup Gradle, writeLocks, commit and push), because they all operate on the checked-out repository, and by switching to an immutable ref we ensure they run against the trusted commit. No new imports or external actions are required.

Concretely:

• In .github/workflows/fix-renovate.yml, locate the “✈ Checkout PR branch” step and change its ref: to ${{ steps.get-pr-data.outputs.head_sha }}.
• Optionally, we can update the step’s name from “Checkout PR branch” to something like “Checkout PR commit” to reflect the new behavior; this does not affect functionality.
• The “🔍 Verify checked-out commit” step can remain as-is; it will now simply confirm that HEAD equals the explicitly requested SHA. Removing it would also be safe, but since we’re asked not to change functionality, we’ll keep it.

No other parts of the workflow need to change.

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[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

The pull request is closed.

📝 Walkthrough

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Chores
  • Updated internal CI/CD workflow configuration.

Walkthrough

The GitHub workflow configuration in .github/workflows/fix-renovate.yml is updated to modify the checkout behavior. The checkout step now references a commit SHA instead of a branch name, changing both the step label and the checkout ref parameter.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
GitHub Workflow Configuration .github/workflows/fix-renovate.yml	Updated checkout step to use head_sha instead of head_branch, changing from branch-based to commit-based checkout. Step label updated accordingly.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

Poem

🐰 A commit by its true name, precise and clean,
No branch ambiguity in between,
SHA's the way, deterministic and sure,
Every checkout a snapshot pure! 🎯✨

✨ Finishing touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch alert-autofix-4

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[github-actions]

✅ Contributor Report

User: @yacosta738
Status: Passed (12/13 metrics passed)

Metric	Description	Value	Threshold	Status
PR Merge Rate	PRs merged vs closed	89%	>= 30%	✅
Repo Quality	Repos with ≥100 stars	0	>= 0	✅
Positive Reactions	Positive reactions received	9	>= 1	✅
Negative Reactions	Negative reactions received	0	<= 5	✅
Account Age	GitHub account age	3031 days	>= 30 days	✅
Activity Consistency	Regular activity over time	108%	>= 0%	✅
Issue Engagement	Issues with community engagement	0	>= 0	✅
Code Reviews	Code reviews given to others	352	>= 0	✅
Merger Diversity	Unique maintainers who merged PRs	3	>= 0	✅
Repo History Merge Rate	Merge rate in this repo	96%	>= 0%	✅
Repo History Min PRs	Previous PRs in this repo	24	>= 0	✅
Profile Completeness	Profile richness (bio, followers)	90	>= 0	✅
Suspicious Patterns	Spam-like activity detection	1	N/A	❌

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_{Contributor Report evaluates based on public GitHub activity. Analysis period: 2025-02-14 to 2026-02-14}