Who Approves the Files That Control Your AI Coding Assistant?
CSO Online, Monday, November 2nd, 2026
Repository files that configure AI coding assistants can trigger code execution, so they need named owners and enforced pull request review.
In a CSO Online opinion piece, Sunil Gentyala argues that configuration files and hooks for AI coding assistants can distribute execution instructions to every developer working in a repository.
He cites StepSecurity's analysis of the June Miasma campaign, which planted AI-tool and editor configuration in a Microsoft repository to trigger credential harvesting, using a skip-CI flag and a backdated timestamp.
Because execution moved to folder open, pipeline-only controls would miss it.
Gentyala recommends treating the pull request as the key checkpoint, with a named owner who understands what each file can trigger and records of who approved a hook and where it may run.