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Repository permission·contents:read

Contents: Read

Tier 3 · Low

Why Tier 3

Reads code, commits, branches, tags and releases. On a private repository this is the source code itself.

Data plane permissions start at Tier 2. This one is lowered for the reason above.

Target: Repository
Plane: DataCode: Repository contents, branches, tags, pull requests, checks and commit signing keys.
Granted by: Fine-grained PAT, GitHub App, GITHUB_TOKEN
Available on: Every setup
In a workflow: permissions: contents: read

What it unlocks

49 REST endpoints need this permission. A few of them:

POST /markdown
GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/activity
GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches
GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/branches/{branch}

Roles that include it

T0OwnerThe organization and every repository in it
T0All-repository adminEvery repository in the organization
T1WriteOne repository
T1MaintainOne repository
T1AdminOne repository
T1Security managerThe organization and every repository in it
T1All-repository writeEvery repository in the organization
T1All-repository maintainEvery repository in the organization
T1Enterprise security managerEvery organization in the enterprise
T2TriageOne repository
T2All-repository triageEvery repository in the organization
T3ReadOne repository
T3All-repository readEvery repository in the organization

Classic scopes that reach it

T0repodocumented
T1security_eventsdocumented
T2public_repodocumented

Attack paths

Techniques it enables

Clone private repos with a stolen token Read or expose private code
Get an agent to copy private code into public Read or expose private code

Abused in

GitHub's internal repositories taken through a VS Code extension Shai-Hulud self-propagating worm (1.0 & 2.0)GitHub MCP / agentic token breadth OAuth consent phishing at scale Mercedes-Benz source code exposure Heroku / Travis CI OAuth token theft

Fixed or limited by

Other levels

T2Contents: Write

GitHub Docs: Repository permissions for "Contents"