Permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN
For information about the API endpoints GitHub Apps can access with each permission, see Permissions required for GitHub Apps.
When a workflow is triggered by the pull_request_target event, the GITHUB_TOKEN is granted read/write repository permission, even when it is triggered from a public fork. For more information, see Events that trigger workflows.
Workflow runs triggered by Dependabot pull requests run as if they are from a forked repository, and therefore use a read-only GITHUB_TOKEN. These workflow runs cannot access any secrets. For information about strategies to keep these workflows secure, see Security hardening for GitHub Actions.
The following table shows the permissions granted to the GITHUB_TOKEN by default. People with admin permissions to an enterprise, organization, or repository, can set the default permissions to be either permissive or restricted. For information on how to set the default permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN for your enterprise, organization, or repository, see Enforcing policies for GitHub Actions in your enterprise, Disabling or limiting GitHub Actions for your organization, or Managing GitHub Actions settings for a repository.
| Scope | Default access (permissive) | Default access (restricted) | Maximum access for pull requests from public forked repositories |
|---|---|---|---|
| actions | read/write | none | read |
| attestations | read/write | none | read |
| checks | read/write | none | read |
| contents | read/write | read | read |
| deployments | read/write | none | read |
| discussions | read/write | none | read |
| id-token | none | none | none |
| issues | read/write | none | read |
| metadata | read | read | read |
| models | read | none | none |
| packages | read/write | read | read |
| pages | read/write | none | read |
| pull-requests | read/write | none | read |
| security-events | read/write | none | read |
| statuses | read/write | none | read |
How permissions are calculated for a workflow job
The permissions for the GITHUB_TOKEN are initially set to the default setting for the enterprise, organization, or repository. If the default is set to the restricted permissions at any of these levels then this will apply to the relevant repositories. For example, if you choose the restricted default at the organization level then all repositories in that organization will use the restricted permissions as the default. The permissions are then adjusted based on any configuration within the workflow file, first at the workflow level and then at the job level. Finally, if the workflow was triggered by a pull request from a forked repository, and the Send write tokens to workflows from pull requests setting is not selected, the permissions are adjusted to change any write permissions to read only.