To fix this problem, you should add a permissions key at the workflow root in .github/workflows/release.yml. The minimal starting point is usually contents: read, which allows jobs to check out code and read repository contents, which all jobs in this workflow require. If parts of the workflow need elevated permissions (for example, creating releases, uploading artifacts, creating or approving pull requests), those jobs can have their own permissions block specifying the minimal additional scopes they need (contents: write, pull-requests: write, etc.). As a starting fix, add the following at the top level (right below name:), giving all jobs only the ability to read repo contents via the GITHUB_TOKEN. Depending on further analysis, you may need to add per-job permission scopes later.

The fix requires:

• Adding the following block after the name: line:

permissions:
  contents: read

No imports or other code changes are required.

To mitigate the risk, you should add an explicit permissions block with the least-privilege necessary either at the workflow level (top-level, applying to all jobs by default) or specifically on jobs that need special permissions. As a minimal baseline, set permissions: { contents: read } at the top of the workflow (below name: and above on:), unless some jobs need more. Then, if any job needs broader or different permissions, override at the job level.

For this workflow, at a minimum, add the following at the top:

permissions:
  contents: read

If any job requires more (e.g., release creation, which might need contents: write or packages: write), that job should have its own explicit block.

In this edit, only the code provided is to be changed, so add the block after the name: Release Automation (line 1).

To resolve the CodeQL finding and adhere to security best practices:

• Explicitly set a permissions key for the approve-notes job in .github/workflows/release.yml.
• This job only displays release notes and does not require write access; setting permissions: read-all is appropriate and minimal.
• The change involves inserting a permissions: read-all block in the approve-notes job (directly after its job header at line 201, before or after runs-on but typically immediately after the job name).

No additional imports, methods, or variable definitions are needed. Only the workflow YAML is changed.

To fix this, specify a permissions: block for the workflow or (preferably, for fine-grained control) at the job level. For the release job, the following minimum permissions are usually needed:

• contents: write: To push new branches/tags and create GitHub releases.
• pull-requests: read: Not strictly needed here.
• packages: write and similar are not needed unless packages are published explicitly.

For the rest of the jobs, if they do not interact with the repository contents (e.g., if they only read artifacts or run CI checks), use contents: read as the minimum.

The best approach is:

• Add a root-level permissions: block with contents: read (applies to all jobs by default).
• Override in the release job to set contents: write.

Steps:

1. Add at the top of the file (after the name: and before on:) a block:

   permissions:
     contents: read

2. Within the release: job (after runs-on: ubuntu-latest), add:

     permissions:
       contents: write

This ensures all jobs have least privilege, and only the release job can write to repository contents.

To fix the problem, we should explicitly specify the permissions key at the root of the workflow file, so all jobs inherit these permissions unless overridden. The most secure approach is to grant only the minimum required permissions. As a baseline, setting contents: read is always safe; individual jobs can be given more rights as needed. Review of the workflow suggests that most jobs will only require read-level access, but jobs that create releases, push tags, or otherwise need to modify repo contents should be granted the required write permissions at the job level (not globally).

For the quickest fix for the CodeQL warning, you should add at the top-level (after the name: declaration and before on:):

permissions:
  contents: read

This sets minimal read permissions by default. On jobs that require more (e.g., the release job, for creating releases and pushing tags), you should override and specify the minimum write permissions needed. For example, in the release job, set:

permissions:
  contents: write

Other jobs (such as plan, generate-notes, approve-notes, notify) can inherit the contents: read default unless their steps require more access.

Summary:

• Add a permissions: contents: read block at the top-level (after name:).
• For the release job, add a permissions: contents: write block.
• No new imports, methods, or definitions are needed; only YAML blocks are added.