GitHub Actions and Larger Runners; Windows 11 Beta

The Windows 11 Image is now in beta for larger GitHub-hosted runners. You can try it today by setting up a new larger runner, selecting the OS as Windows, and then the partner image ‘Windows 11’. This is a lightweight image, so you may need to install more tools than normal to get started.

More information about the runner can be found in our docs. To learn more about pricing, click here.

CodeQL is the static analysis engine that powers GitHub code scanning. CodeQL version 2.16.3 has been released and has now been rolled out to code scanning users on GitHub.com.

Important changes in this release include:

  • CodeQL code scanning now supports AI-powered automatic fix suggestions for Python alerts on pull requests. This is automatically enabled for all current autofix preview participants.
  • A new option has been added to the Python extractor: python_executable_name. This allows you to select a non-default Python executable installed on the system running the scan (e.g. py.exe on Windows machines).
  • A fix for CVE-2024-25129, a low-severity data exfiltration vulnerability that could be triggered by processing untrusted databases or CodeQL packs.
  • Two new queries:
  • The sinks of queries java/path-injection and java/path-injection-local have been reworked to reduce the number of false positives.

For a full list of changes, please refer to the complete changelog for version 2.16.3. All new functionality will also be included in GHES 3.13. Users of GHES 3.12 or older can upgrade their CodeQL version.

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We’ve started the rollout for enabling push protection on all free user accounts on GitHub. This automatically protects you from accidentally committing secrets to public repositories, regardless of whether the repository itself has secret scanning enabled.

If a secret is detected in any push to a public repository, your push will be blocked. You will have the option to remove the secret from your commits or, if you deem the secret safe, bypass the block.

It might take a week or two for this change to apply to your account; you can verify status and opt-in early in your code security and analysis settings. Once enabled, you also have the option to opt-out. Disabling push protection may cause secrets to be accidentally leaked.

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