--- title: Zombie instructions on carefully constructed web pages... description: Security researchers at Adversa AI disclosed a prompt injection technique called Cryptographic Context Injection (CCI) that can trick GitHub Copilot CLI, when... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Zombie instructions on carefully constructed web pages could trick GitHub Copilot CLI into sharing secrets | daily.dev og:description: Security researchers at Adversa AI disclosed a prompt injection technique called Cryptographic Context Injection (CCI) that can trick GitHub Copilot CLI, when... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/sM2q0aEHF.png og:image:alt: Zombie instructions on carefully constructed web pages could trick GitHub Copilot CLI into sharing secrets og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Zombie instructions on carefully constructed web pages could trick GitHub Copilot CLI into sharing secrets **[The Register](https://daily.dev/sources/theregister)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Security researchers at Adversa AI disclosed a prompt injection technique called Cryptographic Context Injection (CCI) that can trick GitHub Copilot CLI, when run in autopilot mode, into reading a malicious web page containing encrypted instructions. The agent decrypts the payload using Python, is induced to harvest secrets like .env file contents as a fake decryption key, then exfiltrates them via a follow-up URL fetch. The technique previously worked against Grok. Success depends on which underlying model handles the session: Microsoft's mai-code-1.1-flash executed the full attack chain 50 percent of the time, while two OpenAI GPT-5.6 models refused. Model selection can be automatic, so users may not know or control which model is active. GitHub validated the report but declined to treat it as a product vulnerability, arguing the user consented by directing the CLI to fetch untrusted content; Adversa disputes that framing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the Cryptographic Context Injection attack trick GitHub Copilot CLI into leaking secrets? An attacker hosts a web page with instructions encrypted using a key published on the same page. When Copilot CLI in autopilot mode fetches the page, it is induced to attempt decryption using a fake key built from local files like .env, embedding harvested secrets into the key string; a second working key then reveals instructions to fetch another URL that transmits those secrets to the attacker. _Developers running AI coding agents in autopilot mode can follow emerging prompt injection research on daily.dev to avoid leaking secrets._ ### Which GitHub Copilot CLI models are vulnerable to the Cryptographic Context Injection prompt injection attack? Microsoft's mai-code-1.1-flash model executed the full malicious attack chain on 50 percent of attempts, while two OpenAI GPT-5.6 models refused the payload entirely. Since Copilot CLI can auto-select models, users on automatic mode may unknowingly get routed to the vulnerable model in some sessions and a safe one in others, with no visibility into which handled their request. _Teams choosing or auditing AI coding agent models can track these model-specific security gaps via daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [GitLost: GitHub's AI agent leaks private repos when asked](https://daily.dev/posts/gitlost-github-s-ai-agent-leaks-private-repos-when-asked-qlzfcubqe) · The Next Web · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [Cybersecurity Researchers Uncover Flaw in Google AI Coding Tool](https://daily.dev/posts/cybersecurity-researchers-uncover-flaw-in-google-ai-coding-tool-38fhs0zr4) · DevOps.com · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [GitHub AI agent leaks private repositories via prompt injection attack](https://daily.dev/posts/github-ai-agent-leaks-private-repositories-via-prompt-injection-attack-ffq6gdzd6) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#ai-security](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-security), [#prompt-injection](https://daily.dev/tags/prompt-injection), [#secrets-management](https://daily.dev/tags/secrets-management) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Zombie instructions on carefully constructed web pages could trick GitHub Copilot CLI into sharing secrets","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf"},"datePublished":"2026-10-06T13:00:44.180Z","dateModified":"2026-10-07T14:44:53.827Z","description":"Security researchers at Adversa AI disclosed a prompt injection technique called Cryptographic Context Injection (CCI) that can trick GitHub Copilot CLI, when...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c11a3b7e5ef772e1b0ffbfa1d5fef347?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c11a3b7e5ef772e1b0ffbfa1d5fef347?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Register","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Register","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/66aa2113fdad463992ffcbf0e8963fda","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/theregister"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,github,ai-security,prompt-injection,secrets-management","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Register","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/theregister"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Zombie instructions on carefully constructed web pages could trick GitHub Copilot CLI into sharing secrets"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/zombie-instructions-on-carefully-constructed-web-pages-could-trick-github-copilot-cli-into-sharing-s-sm2q0aehf#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How does the Cryptographic Context Injection attack trick GitHub Copilot CLI into leaking secrets?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"An attacker hosts a web page with instructions encrypted using a key published on the same page. 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