diff --git a/.github/workflows/add-backport-label.yaml b/.github/workflows/add-backport-label.yaml
index e775fda0e6..5f033f3cd2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/add-backport-label.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/add-backport-label.yaml
@@ -19,18 +19,11 @@ jobs:
     if: ${{ github.event.label.name != 'auto-backport' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code to allow hub to communicate with the project
+      - name: Checkout code to get gh-utils script
         if: ${{ !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'force-skip-ci') }}
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Install hub extension script
-        run: |
-          pushd $(mktemp -d) &>/dev/null
-          git clone --single-branch --depth 1 "https://github.com/kata-containers/.github" && cd .github/scripts
-          sudo install hub-util.sh /usr/local/bin
-          popd &>/dev/null
-
-      - name: Determine whether to add label 
+      - name: Determine whether to add label
         if: ${{ !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'force-skip-ci') }}
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
@@ -38,25 +31,19 @@ jobs:
         id: add_label
         run: |
           pr=${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
-          linked_issue_urls=$(hub-util.sh \
+          linked_issues=$(./ci/gh-util.sh \
             list-issues-for-pr "$pr" |\
-            grep -v "^\#"  |\
-            cut -d';' -f3 || true)
-          [ -z "$linked_issue_urls" ] && {
+            grep -v "^\#" || true)
+          [ -z "${linked_issues}" ] && {
             echo "::error::No linked issues for PR $pr"
             exit 1
           }
           has_bug=false
-          for issue_url in $(echo "$linked_issue_urls")
+          for issue in $(echo "$linked_issues")
           do
-            issue=$(echo "$issue_url"| awk -F\/ '{print $NF}' || true)
-            [ -z "$issue" ] && {
-              echo "::error::Cannot determine issue number from $issue_url for PR $pr"
-              exit 1
-            }
-            labels=$(hub-util.sh list-labels-for-issue "$issue")
-            
-            label_names=$(echo $labels | jq -r '.[].name' || true)
+            labels=$(./ci/gh-util.sh list-labels-for-issue "$issue")
+
+            label_names=$(echo $labels | jq -r '.labels[].name' || true)
             if [[ "$label_names" =~ "bug" ]]; then
               has_bug=true
               break
diff --git a/ci/gh-util.sh b/ci/gh-util.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..3ab62b9b81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/gh-util.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright (c) 2020 Intel Corporation
+# Copyright (c) 2024 IBM Corporation
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o errtrace
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+[ -n "${DEBUG:-}" ] && set -o xtrace
+
+script_name=${0##*/}
+
+#---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+die()
+{
+    echo >&2 "$*"
+    exit 1
+}
+
+usage()
+{
+    cat <<EOF
+Usage: $script_name [OPTIONS] [command] [arguments]
+
+Description: Utility to expand the abilities of the GitHub CLI tool, gh.
+
+Command descriptions:
+
+  list-issues-for-pr     List issues linked to a PR.
+  list-labels-for-issue  List labels, in json format for an issue
+
+Commands and arguments:
+
+  list-issues-for-pr <pr>
+  list-labels-for-issue <issue>
+
+Options:
+
+ -h                 Show this help statement.
+ -r <owner/repo>    Optional <org/repo> specification. Default: 'kata-containers/kata-containers'
+
+Examples:
+
+- List issues for a Pull Request 123 in kata-containers/kata-containers repo
+
+  $ $script_name list-issues-for-pr 123
+EOF
+}
+
+list_issues_for_pr()
+{
+    local pr="${1:-}"
+    local repo="${2:-kata-containers/kata-containers}"
+
+    [ -z "$pr" ] && die "need PR"
+
+    local commits=$(gh pr view ${pr} --repo ${repo} --json commits --jq .commits[].messageBody)
+
+    [ -z "$commits" ] && die "cannot determine commits for PR $pr"
+
+    # Extract the issue number(s) from the commits.
+    #
+    # This needs to be careful to take account of lines like this:
+    #
+    # fixes 99
+    # fixes: 77
+    # fixes #123.
+    # Fixes: #1, #234, #5678.
+    #
+    # Note the exclusion of lines starting with whitespace which is
+    # specifically to ignore vendored git log comments, which are whitespace
+    # indented and in the format:
+    #
+    #     "<git-commit> <git-commit-msg>"
+    #
+    local issues=$(echo "$commits" |\
+        egrep -v "^( |	)" |\
+        egrep -i "fixes:* *(#*[0-9][0-9]*)" |\
+        tr ' ' '\n' |\
+        grep "[0-9][0-9]*" |\
+        sed 's/[.,\#]//g' |\
+        sort -nu || true)
+
+    [ -z "$issues" ] && die "cannot determine issues for PR $pr"
+
+    echo "# Issues linked to PR"
+    echo "#"
+    echo "# Fields: issue_number"
+
+    local issue
+    echo "$issues"|while read issue
+    do
+        printf "%s\n" "$issue"
+    done
+}
+
+list_labels_for_issue()
+{
+    local issue="${1:-}"
+
+    [ -z "$issue" ] && die "need issue number"
+
+    local labels=$(gh issue view ${issue} --repo kata-containers/kata-containers --json labels)
+
+    [ -z "$labels" ] && die "cannot determine labels for issue $issue"
+
+    printf "$labels"
+}
+
+setup()
+{
+    for cmd in gh jq
+    do
+        command -v "$cmd" &>/dev/null || die "need command: $cmd"
+    done
+}
+
+handle_args()
+{
+    setup
+
+    local show_all="false"
+    local opt
+
+    while getopts "ahr:" opt "$@"
+    do
+        case "$opt" in
+            a) show_all="true" ;;
+            h) usage && exit 0 ;;
+            r) repo="${OPTARG}" ;;
+        esac
+    done
+
+    shift $(($OPTIND - 1))
+
+    local repo="${repo:-kata-containers/kata-containers}"
+    local cmd="${1:-}"
+
+    case "$cmd" in
+        list-issues-for-pr) ;;
+        list-labels-for-issue) ;;
+
+        "") usage && exit 0 ;;
+        *) die "invalid command: '$cmd'" ;;
+    esac
+
+    # Consume the command name
+    shift
+
+    local issue=""
+    local pr=""
+
+    case "$cmd" in
+        list-issues-for-pr)
+            pr="${1:-}"
+
+            list_issues_for_pr "$pr" "${repo}"
+            ;;
+
+        list-labels-for-issue)
+            issue="${1:-}"
+
+            list_labels_for_issue "$issue"
+            ;;
+
+        *) die "impossible situation: cmd: '$cmd'" ;;
+    esac
+
+    exit 0
+}
+
+main()
+{
+    handle_args "$@"
+}
+
+main "$@"