From 7f5d465f4ddc242709a01030313e80a8d94ccaaa Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dave Hansen Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2018 13:46:24 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] docs: clarify security-bugs disclosure policy I think we need to soften the language a bit. It might scare folks off, especially the: We prefer to fully disclose the bug as soon as possible. which is not really the case. Linus says: It's not full disclosure, it's not coordinated disclosure, and it's not "no disclosure". It's more like just "timely open fixes". I changed a bit of the wording in here, but mostly to remove the word "disclosure" since it seems to mean very specific things to people that we do not mean here. Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen Reviewed-by: Dan Williams Reviewed-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman Acked-by: Kees Cook Cc: Thomas Gleixner Cc: Linus Torvalds Cc: Alan Cox Cc: Andrea Arcangeli Cc: Andy Lutomirski Cc: Tim Chen Cc: Alexander Viro Cc: Andrew Morton Cc: Mark Rutland Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet --- Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst | 24 +++++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst index 47574b382d75..30491d91e93d 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst @@ -29,18 +29,20 @@ made public. Disclosure ---------- -The goal of the Linux kernel security team is to work with the -bug submitter to bug resolution as well as disclosure. We prefer -to fully disclose the bug as soon as possible. It is reasonable to -delay disclosure when the bug or the fix is not yet fully understood, -the solution is not well-tested or for vendor coordination. However, we -expect these delays to be short, measurable in days, not weeks or months. -A disclosure date is negotiated by the security team working with the -bug submitter as well as vendors. However, the kernel security team -holds the final say when setting a disclosure date. The timeframe for -disclosure is from immediate (esp. if it's already publicly known) +The goal of the Linux kernel security team is to work with the bug +submitter to understand and fix the bug. We prefer to publish the fix as +soon as possible, but try to avoid public discussion of the bug itself +and leave that to others. + +Publishing the fix may be delayed when the bug or the fix is not yet +fully understood, the solution is not well-tested or for vendor +coordination. However, we expect these delays to be short, measurable in +days, not weeks or months. A release date is negotiated by the security +team working with the bug submitter as well as vendors. However, the +kernel security team holds the final say when setting a timeframe. The +timeframe varies from immediate (esp. if it's already publicly known bug) to a few weeks. As a basic default policy, we expect report date to -disclosure date to be on the order of 7 days. +release date to be on the order of 7 days. Coordination ------------ -- GitLab