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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst | 38 |
1 files changed, 37 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst b/Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst index 6dc525858125..54260dbfc64d 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst @@ -66,6 +66,42 @@ In addition, the following information are highly desirable: the issue appear. It is useful to share them, as they can be helpful to keep end users protected during the time it takes them to apply the fix. +What qualifies as a security bug +-------------------------------- + +It is important that most bugs are handled publicly so as to involve the widest +possible audience and find the best solution. By nature, bugs that are handled +in closed discussions between a small set of participants are less likely to +produce the best possible fix (e.g., risk of missing valid use cases, limited +testing abilities). + +It turns out that the majority of the bugs reported via the security team are +just regular bugs that have been improperly qualified as security bugs due to +a lack of awareness of the Linux kernel's threat model, as described in +Documentation/process/threat-model.rst, and ought to have been sent through +the normal channels described in Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst +instead. + +The security list exists for urgent bugs that grant an attacker a capability +they are not supposed to have on a correctly configured production system, and +can be easily exploited, representing an imminent threat to many users. Before +reporting, consider whether the issue actually crosses a trust boundary on such +a system. + +**If you resorted to AI assistance to identify a bug, you must treat it as +public**. While you may have valid reasons to believe it is not, the security +team's experience shows that bugs discovered this way systematically surface +simultaneously across multiple researchers, often on the same day. In this +case, do not publicly share a reproducer, as this could cause unintended harm; +just mention that one is available and maintainers might ask for it privately +if they need it. + +If you are unsure whether an issue qualifies, err on the side of reporting +privately: the security team would rather triage a borderline report than miss +a real vulnerability. Reporting ordinary bugs to the security list, however, +does not make them move faster and consumes triage capacity that other reports +need. + Identifying contacts -------------------- @@ -74,7 +110,7 @@ affected subsystem's maintainers and Cc: the Linux kernel security team. Do not send it to a public list at this stage, unless you have good reasons to consider the issue as being public or trivial to discover (e.g. result of a widely available automated vulnerability scanning tool that can be repeated by -anyone). +anyone, or use of AI-based tools). If you're sending a report for issues affecting multiple parts in the kernel, even if they're fairly similar issues, please send individual messages (think |
