github/github-mcp-server · error

failed to list global security advisories: %w

Error message

failed to list global security advisories: %w

What it means

client.SecurityAdvisories.ListGlobalSecurityAdvisories returned a non-nil error. Unlike sibling handlers, this one returns the raw wrapped error instead of ghErrors.NewGitHubAPIErrorResponse, so both transport failures and GitHub API errors surface here together; go-github's *github.ErrorResponse inside carries the status and message. Common causes: 422 invalid filter values, 403 rate limit exhausted, and DNS/TLS failures to the API host.

Source

Thrown at pkg/github/security_advisories.go:190

				opts.IsWithdrawn = &isWithdrawn
			}

			if affects != "" {
				opts.Affects = &affects
			}
			if published != "" {
				opts.Published = &published
			}
			if updated != "" {
				opts.Updated = &updated
			}
			if modified != "" {
				opts.Modified = &modified
			}

			advisories, resp, err := client.SecurityAdvisories.ListGlobalSecurityAdvisories(ctx, opts)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to list global security advisories: %w", err)
			}
			defer func() { _ = resp.Body.Close() }()

			if resp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
				body, err := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
				if err != nil {
					return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to read response body: %w", err)
				}
				return ghErrors.NewGitHubAPIStatusErrorResponse(ctx, "failed to list advisories", resp, body), nil, nil
			}

			r, err := json.Marshal(advisories)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to marshal advisories: %w", err)
			}

			result := utils.NewToolResultText(string(r))
			// Global advisories come from the world-readable GitHub Advisory

View on GitHub (pinned to 0ea1f775a7)

Solutions

1. Unwrap with errors.As(err, *github.ErrorResponse) and read Message/Status: 422 means fix the offending filter argument
2. On 403/429, wait until x-ratelimit-reset and retry with fewer, larger pages
3. On transport errors, verify connectivity and TLS to the configured API host
4. Code improvement: route API errors through NewGitHubAPIErrorResponse for consistent, actionable messages

Example fix

// before
advisories, resp, err := client.SecurityAdvisories.ListGlobalSecurityAdvisories(ctx, opts)
if err != nil {
    return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to list global security advisories: %w", err)
}
// after - keep API errors structured, wrap only transport errors
var ghErr *github.ErrorResponse
if errors.As(err, &ghErr) {
    return ghErrors.NewGitHubAPIErrorResponse(ctx, "failed to list global security advisories", resp, err), nil, nil
}
return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to list global security advisories: %w", err)

// Validate filter enums/dates before calling the tool
validEcosystems := map[string]bool{"pip": true, "npm": true, "maven": true, "rubygems": true,
	"nuget": true, "composer": true, "go": true, "rust": true, "erlang": true,
	"actions": true, "pub": true, "other": true}
if eco != "" && !validEcosystems[eco] {
    return fmt.Errorf("ecosystem %q is not one of the allowed values", eco)
}
for _, d := range []string{published, updated, modified} {
    if d != "" && !validDateOrRange(d) {
        return fmt.Errorf("date filter %q must be an ISO 8601 date or range", d)
    }
}

func isGitHubAPIError(err error) (*github.ErrorResponse, bool) {
	var ghErr *github.ErrorResponse
	if errors.As(err, &ghErr) {
		return ghErr, true
	}
	return nil, false
}

func isRetryableListErr(err error) bool {
	ghErr, ok := isGitHubAPIError(err)
	if !ok {
		var netErr net.Error
		return errors.As(err, &netErr) // transport: retry
	}
	return ghErr.Response != nil &&
		(ghErr.Response.StatusCode == 429 || ghErr.Response.StatusCode >= 500)
}

advisories, resp, err := client.SecurityAdvisories.ListGlobalSecurityAdvisories(ctx, opts)
if err != nil {
    if ghErr, ok := isGitHubAPIError(err); ok {
        if ghErr.Response.StatusCode == 422 {
            return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid advisory filter: %s", ghErr.Message) // fix arguments, do not retry
        }
        if isRetryableListErr(err) {
            time.Sleep(backoff) // 429/5xx: retry with jitter
            return listAgain(ctx, opts)
        }
    }
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to list global security advisories: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Invalid `ecosystem` or `affects` filter strings (422 Unprocessable Entity); primary rate limit exhausted (403 with x-ratelimit-remaining: 0); malformed date ranges in published/updated/modified; network-level failures reaching api.github.com.

Common situations: Passing an ecosystem not in the allowed enum; tight pagination loops ignoring rate-limit headers; egress proxies blocking or intercepting api.github.com TLS.

Related errors

• failed to list repository security advisories: %w
• failed to fetch raw content: %s
• failed to get repositories
• failed to get issue ID: %w
• each issue_fields item must be an object

AI-assisted analysis of github/github-mcp-server@0ea1f775a7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/90f817853d0a9014. Report an issue: GitHub.