security-bugs.rst (4467B)
1.. _securitybugs: 2 3Security bugs 4============= 5 6Linux kernel developers take security very seriously. As such, we'd 7like to know when a security bug is found so that it can be fixed and 8disclosed as quickly as possible. Please report security bugs to the 9Linux kernel security team. 10 11Contact 12------- 13 14The Linux kernel security team can be contacted by email at 15<security@kernel.org>. This is a private list of security officers 16who will help verify the bug report and develop and release a fix. 17If you already have a fix, please include it with your report, as 18that can speed up the process considerably. It is possible that the 19security team will bring in extra help from area maintainers to 20understand and fix the security vulnerability. 21 22As it is with any bug, the more information provided the easier it 23will be to diagnose and fix. Please review the procedure outlined in 24'Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst' if you are unclear about what 25information is helpful. Any exploit code is very helpful and will not 26be released without consent from the reporter unless it has already been 27made public. 28 29Please send plain text emails without attachments where possible. 30It is much harder to have a context-quoted discussion about a complex 31issue if all the details are hidden away in attachments. Think of it like a 32:doc:`regular patch submission <../process/submitting-patches>` 33(even if you don't have a patch yet): describe the problem and impact, list 34reproduction steps, and follow it with a proposed fix, all in plain text. 35 36Disclosure and embargoed information 37------------------------------------ 38 39The security list is not a disclosure channel. For that, see Coordination 40below. 41 42Once a robust fix has been developed, the release process starts. Fixes 43for publicly known bugs are released immediately. 44 45Although our preference is to release fixes for publicly undisclosed bugs 46as soon as they become available, this may be postponed at the request of 47the reporter or an affected party for up to 7 calendar days from the start 48of the release process, with an exceptional extension to 14 calendar days 49if it is agreed that the criticality of the bug requires more time. The 50only valid reason for deferring the publication of a fix is to accommodate 51the logistics of QA and large scale rollouts which require release 52coordination. 53 54While embargoed information may be shared with trusted individuals in 55order to develop a fix, such information will not be published alongside 56the fix or on any other disclosure channel without the permission of the 57reporter. This includes but is not limited to the original bug report 58and followup discussions (if any), exploits, CVE information or the 59identity of the reporter. 60 61In other words our only interest is in getting bugs fixed. All other 62information submitted to the security list and any followup discussions 63of the report are treated confidentially even after the embargo has been 64lifted, in perpetuity. 65 66Coordination 67------------ 68 69Fixes for sensitive bugs, such as those that might lead to privilege 70escalations, may need to be coordinated with the private 71<linux-distros@vs.openwall.org> mailing list so that distribution vendors 72are well prepared to issue a fixed kernel upon public disclosure of the 73upstream fix. Distros will need some time to test the proposed patch and 74will generally request at least a few days of embargo, and vendor update 75publication prefers to happen Tuesday through Thursday. When appropriate, 76the security team can assist with this coordination, or the reporter can 77include linux-distros from the start. In this case, remember to prefix 78the email Subject line with "[vs]" as described in the linux-distros wiki: 79<http://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros#how-to-use-the-lists> 80 81CVE assignment 82-------------- 83 84The security team does not normally assign CVEs, nor do we require them 85for reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and 86may delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier 87assigned ahead of public disclosure, they will need to contact the private 88linux-distros list, described above. When such a CVE identifier is known 89before a patch is provided, it is desirable to mention it in the commit 90message if the reporter agrees. 91 92Non-disclosure agreements 93------------------------- 94 95The Linux kernel security team is not a formal body and therefore unable 96to enter any non-disclosure agreements.