Is release-assets.githubusercontent.com a scam?

Our automated security review found no threat indicators on release-assets.githubusercontent.com. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.

Is release-assets.githubusercontent.com safe to use?

release-assets.githubusercontent.com passed our automated security checks with a trust score of 70/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged the site at the time of the last scan.

Does release-assets.githubusercontent.com have a valid SSL certificate?

Yes. release-assets.githubusercontent.com presents a valid TLSv1.3 certificate issued by Let's Encrypt · R12, expiring in 30 days. Note that SSL only encrypts the connection — it does not guarantee that the site itself is trustworthy.

How old is the release-assets.githubusercontent.com domain?

release-assets.githubusercontent.com is 12.3 years old, registered on 2/6/2014 through MarkMonitor Inc.. Scam domains are often freshly registered — a site under 6 months old warrants extra caution.

Has release-assets.githubusercontent.com been flagged by antivirus engines?

3 out of 91 antivirus engines in our malware network flagged release-assets.githubusercontent.com as malicious or suspicious (3 outright malicious). Even one detection is a meaningful signal.

Is release-assets.githubusercontent.com on any phishing or malware blacklists?

No. release-assets.githubusercontent.com is not currently listed on the major browser blocklist feeds that modern browsers use.

Where is release-assets.githubusercontent.com hosted?

release-assets.githubusercontent.com resolves to an IP operated by GitHub, Inc. in US (usage type: Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad, but unusual geography for a brand's claimed country is one of many signals we weigh.

How often is the release-assets.githubusercontent.com report updated?

We cache results for 24 hours. Signed-in MalwareTips members can trigger a manual rescan at any time using the "Rescan" button on the report page, which re-runs every check from scratch and refreshes this page.

SAFE

No threats detected

All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.

Security Review

Is release-assets.githubusercontent.com legit or a scam?

Name: Is release-assets.githubusercontent.com legit or a scam?
Item: release-assets.githubusercontent.com
Rating: 4
Author: MalwareTips

Our verdict:Safe· 70/100

SafeSuspiciousDangerous

Official GitHub release asset host used for direct downloads from repositories, initially flagged by a few AV tools due to its recent rollout.

Why we trust it

Confirmed official GitHub subdomain by GitHub support documentation.Used exclusively for legitimate release asset downloads with clean sandbox results.No scam reports or complaints found across web sources.

release-assets.githubusercontent.comScanned 1d ago

Post Facebook

Trust score

SAFE

Heuristics 0·MT 85

Category tags

cdnofficial service90% MT confidence

Technical red flags (1)

3 of 91 engines flagged

Positive signals (4)

Not on major blacklists Domain is 12 years old Encrypted connection Clean server reputation

View density

Analysis Summary

Threat Intelligence

0/91

Engines flagged this URL

Domain Age

12 years old

Registered Feb 6, 2014

MT Intelligence

Safe

Low likelihood · 90% confidence

MT Intelligence

Advanced threat intelligence

MT Security Analyst

Low scam likelihoodengineMT · Guardiantrust85/100

MT AgentLive web researchVisual inspection

Confidence

The domain is a confirmed subdomain of githubusercontent.com operated by GitHub for serving release binaries. GitHub support publicly documented the change in May 2025 and stated it is permanent. Three antivirus engines flagged the root URL, likely because the subdomain was newly activated, yet sandbox tests of real software downloads returned clean. The root path returns a generic cache error because the service only serves specific asset paths. No scam reports, phishing complaints, or unauthorized use appear in any searched sources.

Full dossier

Analysis complete

Page Content

The root URL returns only a generic Varnish 404 page with no branding or content, which is expected for an asset-only endpoint.

Infrastructure

Hosted on GitHub's infrastructure with valid Let's Encrypt SSL and a low-abuse IP address. The parent domain is over 12 years old.

Domain History

Subdomain activated in 2025 as part of GitHub's official release-asset changes; the parent domain registration dates back to 2012.

Web Reputation

GitHub documentation and support threads confirm legitimate use for downloading files such as Notepad++ and ProtonVPN installers.

Risk Factors

Three antivirus engines flagged the domain as malicious, likely due to its recent activation as a new endpoint.

Positive Signals

Confirmed official GitHub subdomain by GitHub support documentation.
Used exclusively for legitimate release asset downloads with clean sandbox results.
No scam reports or complaints found across web sources.
Parent domain is over twelve years old with valid non-private registration.

AI Recommendation

Safe to use when downloading release assets directly from GitHub repositories. Avoid clicking links from unsolicited messages that lead here.

Next-gen fraud intelligence

Evidence-backedCross-checked

Website Preview

LIVE RENDER

release-assets.githubusercontent.com

1Page appears parked or non-functional

Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →

Visual Screenshot Analysis

We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.

/ 100

Moderate visual risk

Visual red flags detected in the screenshot

Screenshot shows a generic Varnish cache server 404 error page with no site content or branding.

Visual risk40/100

What our vision model saw

1 signal

Page appears parked or non-functional

Web Research Findings

Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for release-assets.githubusercontent.com, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.

Domain age

12 yrs

Registered Feb 2014

Business registration

No public record found

Could not match the site to a registered company — common for small sites.

Clone check

Not a clone

No well-known site's layout or branding detected here.

Typosquat check

No look-alike match

The domain doesn't resemble any well-known brand's spelling.

Web mentions

8 complaints

Key findings

7 headline facts from open-web research

Domain is a subdomain of githubusercontent.com, GitHub's official asset hosting service.
GitHub support confirmed in May 2025: 'we have recently turned on a feature flag that adds the address release-assets.githubusercontent.com for release assets. This change ... is planned to be permanent.' (stepsecurity.io blog)
Used for direct downloads of GitHub release assets, e.g., https://release-assets.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset/... (multiple GitHub discussions, HashiCorp support, official changelog June 2025)
Initially triggered security alerts/DNS detections in tools like CrowdStrike and Malwarebytes due to being a new endpoint (Reddit threads r/crowdstrike, r/techsupport, Malwarebytes forum July 2025)
Malware sandboxes (ANY.RUN, Joe Sandbox) analyzed legitimate software downloads (e.g., Notepad++, ProtonVPN) from this domain with no malicious activity detected.
GitHub META API lists *.githubusercontent.com as wildcard; new subdomains appear over time per GitHub.
No evidence of scam, phishing, or unauthorized use in searches for 'scam', 'complaint', or 'review'.

Research summary

Narrative write-up from our AI analyst, grounded on the facts above

We searched scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, and general web sources for release-assets.githubusercontent.com and didn't find scam reports or complaints. For a new or low-traffic site this is expected and is not by itself a sign of trust.

Antivirus Engines

Detection matrix · live

3 engines flagged this URL

We cross-check every URL against our antivirus network of 91 malware and blacklist engines. Each detection is listed below by engine name — even a single hit is a meaningful signal.

3Malicious0Suspicious60Harmless91Engines

of 91

Bkav

Malicious· malicious

Chong Lua Dao

Malicious· malicious

Cluster25

Malicious· malicious

3 antivirus engines flagged this URL. Even a single detection is a meaningful signal — treat this site with extra caution and avoid entering credentials, payment info, or downloading any files.

Security Scans

Blacklist Check

Not flagged on major threat lists

Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.

Domain & Encryption

Domain History

Age12 years old

RegistrarMarkMonitor Inc.

RegisteredFeb 6, 2014

ExpiresFeb 6, 2028

Owner privacyVisible

Encryption Certificate

StatusValid

ProtocolTLSv1.3

IssuerLet's Encrypt · R12

ExpiresJul 5, 2026 (30d)

Self-signedNo

Hosting & Technology

HostingGitHub, Inc.

Server locationUS

Server Reputation

Abuse Intelligence

Confidence score7%

Reports on file8

ISPGitHub, Inc.

Usage typeContent Delivery Network

Still, stay alert

No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.

Double-check the exact URL in your address bar
Confirm you are actually on release-assets.githubusercontent.com and not a lookalike like r-elease-assets.githubusercontent.com.com or an IDN homoglyph.
Use a password manager
Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.
Discuss this site on the forum
If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.
Open

Reputation Sources

How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.

Google Safe Browsing

Not listedCheck ↗

VirusTotal

ListedCheck ↗

AbuseIPDB

Not listedCheck ↗

Also verify:Spamhaus ↗DNSBL / SURBL ↗PhishTank ↗

Safety FAQ

Common questions about this site, answered from the scan data on this page. These are auto-generated — not hand-written — so they always match the underlying report.

Our automated security review found no threat indicators on release-assets.githubusercontent.com. The site appears legitimate based on the signals we checked, but always stay alert for phishing emails that spoof real domains.

Final Verdict

Trust / 100

Final Verdict·release-assets.githubusercontent.com

SAFE

This is an official GitHub subdomain for hosting release assets. Some antivirus engines flagged the new endpoint when it first appeared, but legitimate downloads from it show no malicious behavior. No scam reports exist.

Safe to use when downloading release assets directly from GitHub repositories. Avoid clicking links from unsolicited messages that lead here.

AV engines

MT passes

Net signals

Scan another URL

Security review completemalwaretips.com/url-scan

Recently scanned

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Community review

User reviews & comments(0)

Share your experience — "Lost $200 on a fake checkout" is more useful than "Scam". Your review helps others avoid traps.

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This report is generated automatically by combining threat intelligence, domain signals, and an AI security analyst. It is informational, not legal advice. Always use your own judgement before sharing personal information or money online.