AI-Assisted Secure Coding (Appendix C) · Adversarial AI Detection in Inbound Contributions
Approve first-time contributors' PRs
Verify that PRs from first-time or low-reputation contributors require maintainer approval before any privileged workflow processes them. Privileged workflows here include AI review bots, secret-bearing jobs, and external-integration calls.
OWASP AISVS v1.01, requirement AC.13.2
In plain English
Pull requests from first-time or low-reputation contributors need a maintainer's approval before any privileged workflow processes them. Privileged here includes AI review bots, jobs with secrets and calls to external integrations. The first PR from an unknown account is the usual vehicle for a pipeline attack.
What good looks like
- PRs from first-time or low-reputation contributors wait for maintainer approval before privileged processing.
- The gate covers AI review bots, secret-bearing jobs and external integrations.
- The maintainer reviews the change, workflow files included, before approving.
- Approvals are logged.
How teams usually do it
- The CI platform's setting to require approval for outside contributors' workflow runs, set to its strictest practical level.
- Triggering the AI review bot from the approval event, not from the PR being opened.
- A short checklist for the approving maintainer.
Suggested evidence
- Repository and organisation settings.
- Approval logs.
Common mistakes
- Approving every first-time PR without reading it.
- Gating CI and letting the AI review bot run automatically on PR open.
- Defining "first-time" so loosely that one merged typo fix grants full trust.
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Requirement text from the OWASP AI Security Verification Standard, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This guidance is shared under the same licence.