# Over-scoped CodeBuild GitHub token let an attacker ship code in Amazon Q Developer 1.84.0

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/cves/cve-2025-8217/
Last updated: 2026-11-05
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

---

## What broke

AWS's security bulletin AWS-2025-015, first published July 23, 2025, says AWS found "an inappropriately scoped GitHub token in their CodeBuild configuration" for the Amazon Q Developer extension for Visual Studio Code. An attacker used that token to commit code to the extension's open-source repository, and the release process picked it up automatically and shipped it as version 1.84.0. NVD describes the result as "inert, injected code designed to call the Q Developer CLI" that runs when the extension launches. AWS Security inspected the code and found it "was unsuccessful in executing due to a syntax error," which prevented changes to any services or customer environments. Neither AWS nor the GitHub advisory describes what the code would have done had it run.

The CWE is CWE-506 (embedded malicious code). NVD has not scored it; the CNA (AWS) score is CVSS 3.1 4.0, with a local attack vector and integrity impact only. It is not on CISA KEV.

## Why it matters

The vulnerable identity was the build pipeline's, not a user's. A CodeBuild job held a GitHub token that could write to the repository it built, so whoever obtained that token could decide what code an official release contained. The extension is an AI coding assistant that runs inside developer editors with the developer's own file and network access, so the reach of a working payload would have been every developer who updated. The low CVSS reflects luck, not design: the control that failed was the token's [scope](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/scope/), and nothing downstream caught the commit before release. The same release-path weakness appears in [Trivy](https://startwithidentity.com/cves/cve-2026-33634/) and [tj-actions/changed-files](https://startwithidentity.com/cves/cve-2025-30066/).

## What to do

- Remove every 1.84.0 installation, including forks and derivative copies, and update to 1.85.0. AWS publishes the 1.84.0 SHA-256 so you can find copies.
- Give CI build jobs read-only repository tokens, and keep write and release permissions in a separate, reviewed step. Apply [least privilege](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/least-privilege/) to every [service account](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/service-account/) a pipeline uses.
- Require reviewed pull requests for anything that reaches a release branch, so a token alone cannot publish code.

## After you patch

- Inventory the tokens your own build systems hold, their scopes and their expiry, and rotate any long-lived token with write access. See [secrets rotation](https://startwithidentity.com/glossary/secrets-rotation/).

## Sources

- [NVD: CVE-2025-8217](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2025-8217)
- [AWS security bulletin AWS-2025-015](https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/AWS-2025-015/)
- [GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-7g7f-ff96-5gcw](https://github.com/aws/aws-toolkit-vscode/security/advisories/GHSA-7g7f-ff96-5gcw)