{
 "public_id": "AIR-2025-0085",
 "incident_id": "2025-08-trailofbits-copilot-backdoor-injection",
 "date_disclosed": "2025-08-06",
 "date_occurred": null,
 "title": "Prompt injection in a GitHub issue makes GitHub Copilot Agent plant a backdoor in a lock file",
 "class": "research_demo",
 "attack_surface": "coding_agent",
 "initial_vector": "indirect_prompt_injection_issue",
 "agent_capability_abused": [
  "repository_write",
  "pull_request_creation",
  "dependency_management"
 ],
 "target_product": "GitHub Copilot Agent",
 "target_vendor": "GitHub / Microsoft",
 "autonomy_level": "semi_autonomous",
 "impact_realized": false,
 "impact_type": [
  "supply_chain_backdoor",
  "remote_code_execution"
 ],
 "blast_radius": "Public repositories where Copilot Agent acts on issues",
 "cve": [],
 "taxonomy": {
  "owasp_asi": [
   "ASI01",
   "ASI04",
   "ASI05"
  ],
  "mitre_atlas": [],
  "labels": [
   "indirect_prompt_injection",
   "coding_agent",
   "lock_file_poisoning",
   "html_tag_smuggling"
  ]
 },
 "defense_present": "GitHub markdown sanitization stripping <picture> tags",
 "defense_bypassed": true,
 "fix_shipped": null,
 "primary_sources": [
  "https://blog.trailofbits.com/2025/08/06/prompt-injection-engineering-for-attackers-exploiting-github-copilot/"
 ],
 "verified_quote": "The issue contains a prompt injection attack that causes Copilot to discreetly insert a backdoor for the attacker in its pull request, which the victim merges.",
 "confidence": "high",
 "notes": "Author Kevin Higgs. No CVE/GHSA; framed as attacker-side prompt-injection engineering rather than a coordinated disclosure.",
 "risk_category": "security_fraud",
 "risk_secondary": [],
 "risk_subcategory": "Prompt Injection",
 "risk_sub_secondary": [
  "Supply Chain Compromise",
  "Remote Code Execution & Sandbox Escape"
 ],
 "ai_entity": "generative",
 "agency": "agent_acted",
 "agency_debatable": false,
 "agency_reason": "the Copilot agent wrote a backdoored lock file and opened the PR",
 "vector_family": "indirect_prompt_injection",
 "vector_detail": "indirect_prompt_injection_issue",
 "guardrail_kind": [
  "output_filter"
 ],
 "guardrail_outcome": "silent",
 "xrefs": {
  "aiid": [],
  "atlas": [],
  "cve": [],
  "ghsa": []
 },
 "primary_asi": "ASI01",
 "agent_framework": "github_copilot",
 "model_provider": "microsoft",
 "model_name": "",
 "detection_mechanism": "external_researcher",
 "tool_access": "unknown",
 "financial_loss_band": "unknown",
 "eai_category": "privilege_escalation",
 "eai_domain": "access_control_and_permissions",
 "eai_secondary": [
  "supply_chain_vulnerabilities",
  "confused_deputy"
 ],
 "eai_reason": "impact rule: privilege_escalation",
 "asi_curated": [
  "ASI01",
  "ASI04"
 ],
 "asi_scope": "in_scope",
 "asi_provenance": "curated_plus_rule",
 "asi_reason": "curated: ASI01,ASI04 | added ASI05 (impact=code_exec)",
 "submitted_by": "EAI Internal"
}