1 .. _securitybugs: 2 3 Security bugs 4 ============= 5 6 Linux kernel developers take security very seriously. As such, we'd 7 like to know when a security bug is found so that it can be fixed and 8 disclosed as quickly as possible. Please report security bugs to the 9 Linux kernel security team. 10 11 Contact 12 ------- 13 14 The Linux kernel security team can be contacted by email at 15 <security@kernel.org>. This is a private list of security officers 16 who will help verify the bug report and develop and release a fix. 17 If you already have a fix, please include it with your report, as 18 that can speed up the process considerably. It is possible that the 19 security team will bring in extra help from area maintainers to 20 understand and fix the security vulnerability. 21 22 As it is with any bug, the more information provided the easier it 23 will be to diagnose and fix. Please review the procedure outlined in 24 'Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst' if you are unclear about what 25 information is helpful. Any exploit code is very helpful and will not 26 be released without consent from the reporter unless it has already been 27 made public. 28 29 Please send plain text emails without attachments where possible. 30 It is much harder to have a context-quoted discussion about a complex 31 issue 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 34 reproduction steps, and follow it with a proposed fix, all in plain text. 35 36 Disclosure and embargoed information 37 ------------------------------------ 38 39 The security list is not a disclosure channel. For that, see Coordination 40 below. 41 42 Once a robust fix has been developed, the release process starts. Fixes 43 for publicly known bugs are released immediately. 44 45 Although our preference is to release fixes for publicly undisclosed bugs 46 as soon as they become available, this may be postponed at the request of 47 the reporter or an affected party for up to 7 calendar days from the start 48 of the release process, with an exceptional extension to 14 calendar days 49 if it is agreed that the criticality of the bug requires more time. The 50 only valid reason for deferring the publication of a fix is to accommodate 51 the logistics of QA and large scale rollouts which require release 52 coordination. 53 54 While embargoed information may be shared with trusted individuals in 55 order to develop a fix, such information will not be published alongside 56 the fix or on any other disclosure channel without the permission of the 57 reporter. This includes but is not limited to the original bug report 58 and followup discussions (if any), exploits, CVE information or the 59 identity of the reporter. 60 61 In other words our only interest is in getting bugs fixed. All other 62 information submitted to the security list and any followup discussions 63 of the report are treated confidentially even after the embargo has been 64 lifted, in perpetuity. 65 66 Coordination with other groups 67 ------------------------------ 68 69 While the kernel security team solely focuses on getting bugs fixed, 70 other groups focus on fixing issues in distros and coordinating 71 disclosure between operating system vendors. Coordination is usually 72 handled by the "linux-distros" mailing list and disclosure by the 73 public "oss-security" mailing list, both of which are closely related 74 and presented in the linux-distros wiki: 75 <https://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros> 76 77 Please note that the respective policies and rules are different since 78 the 3 lists pursue different goals. Coordinating between the kernel 79 security team and other teams is difficult since for the kernel security 80 team occasional embargoes (as subject to a maximum allowed number of 81 days) start from the availability of a fix, while for "linux-distros" 82 they start from the initial post to the list regardless of the 83 availability of a fix. 84 85 As such, the kernel security team strongly recommends that as a reporter 86 of a potential security issue you DO NOT contact the "linux-distros" 87 mailing list UNTIL a fix is accepted by the affected code's maintainers 88 and you have read the distros wiki page above and you fully understand 89 the requirements that contacting "linux-distros" will impose on you and 90 the kernel community. This also means that in general it doesn't make 91 sense to Cc: both lists at once, except maybe for coordination if and 92 while an accepted fix has not yet been merged. In other words, until a 93 fix is accepted do not Cc: "linux-distros", and after it's merged do not 94 Cc: the kernel security team. 95 96 CVE assignment 97 -------------- 98 99 The security team does not assign CVEs, nor do we require them for 100 reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and may 101 delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier 102 assigned for a confirmed issue, they can contact the :doc:`kernel CVE 103 assignment team<../process/cve>` to obtain one. 104 105 Non-disclosure agreements 106 ------------------------- 107 108 The Linux kernel security team is not a formal body and therefore unable 109 to enter any non-disclosure agreements.
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