diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 1b4715146d5c..dcae935b2ef1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -608,6 +608,8 @@ jobs:
         run: .github/workflows/scripts/triggerUnmanagedCommunityBuild.sh "${{ secrets.BUILD_TOKEN }}" "$THISBUILD_VERSION"
 
   publish_release:
+    permissions:
+      contents: write  # for actions/create-release to create a release
     runs-on: [self-hosted, Linux]
     container:
       image: lampepfl/dotty:2021-03-22
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cla.yml b/.github/workflows/cla.yml
index ebe65dfc3cde..175841b8edfa 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cla.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cla.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ on:
   push:
     branches:
       - 'language-reference-backport'
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
 jobs:
   check:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/language-reference.yaml b/.github/workflows/language-reference.yaml
index 6aeb174738a2..58025c7e7993 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/language-reference.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/language-reference.yaml
@@ -9,8 +9,14 @@ on:
       - 'language-reference-stable'
   workflow_dispatch:
 
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
 jobs:
   build-and-push:
+    permissions:
+      contents: write  # for Git to git push
+      pull-requests: write  # for peter-evans/create-pull-request to create a PR
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Get current date
diff --git a/.github/workflows/releases.yml b/.github/workflows/releases.yml
index 820843778428..7420b2e2c621 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/releases.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/releases.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ name: Releases
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
 jobs:
   publish_release:
     runs-on: [self-hosted, Linux]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scaladoc.yaml b/.github/workflows/scaladoc.yaml
index eb2da5c363ae..d5135aed3483 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scaladoc.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scaladoc.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     branches-ignore:
       - 'language-reference-stable'
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
 jobs:
   build:
     env: