GitHub Private Repository Forking Enabled

Last updated a day ago on 2026-11-02

Created a day ago on 2026-11-02

About

Detects enabling of private repository forking on a GitHub organization. Allowing forks of private repositories lets code leave the organization into personal forks, which is a common collection path after an org-owner compromise.

Tags

Domain: CloudDomain: SaaSPlatform: GitHubUse Case: Threat DetectionTactic: CollectionTactic: Defense EvasionData Source: GitHub Audit LogsRule Type: ESQLLanguage: esql

Severity

medium

Risk Score

MITRE ATT&CK™

Collection (TA0009)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Data from Information Repositories (T1213)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Defense Evasion (TA0005)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

↳ Domain or Tenant Policy Modification (T1484)(external, opens in a new tab or window)

False Positive Examples

Planned policy change to allow inner-source forks. Confirm change tickets and that the setting is reverted if it was a test.

License

Elastic License v2(external, opens in a new tab or window)

Definition

Integration Pack: Prebuilt Security Detection Rules
Related Integrations: github(external, opens in a new tab or window)
Query

✄𐘗text code block:
✄𐘗from logs-github.audit-* metadata _id, _index, _version
| where
  event.module == "github" and data_stream.dataset == "github.audit"
    and event.action == "private_repository_forking.enable"
| keep
    _id,
    _index,
    _version,
    @timestamp,
    event.action,
    user.name,
    github.org,
    github.repo,
    github.actor_ip,
    github.hashed_token,
    github.programmatic_access_type,
    github.user_agent,
    github.visibility

Install detection rules in Elastic Security

Detect GitHub Private Repository Forking Enabled in the Elastic Security detection engine by installing this rule into your Elastic Stack.

To setup this rule, check out the installation guide for Prebuilt Security Detection Rules(external, opens in a new tab or window).