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 with other groups 67------------------------------ 68 69While the kernel security team solely focuses on getting bugs fixed, 70other groups focus on fixing issues in distros and coordinating 71disclosure between operating system vendors. Coordination is usually 72handled by the "linux-distros" mailing list and disclosure by the 73public "oss-security" mailing list, both of which are closely related 74and presented in the linux-distros wiki: 75<https://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros> 76 77Please note that the respective policies and rules are different since 78the 3 lists pursue different goals. Coordinating between the kernel 79security team and other teams is difficult since for the kernel security 80team occasional embargoes (as subject to a maximum allowed number of 81days) start from the availability of a fix, while for "linux-distros" 82they start from the initial post to the list regardless of the 83availability of a fix. 84 85As such, the kernel security team strongly recommends that as a reporter 86of a potential security issue you DO NOT contact the "linux-distros" 87mailing list UNTIL a fix is accepted by the affected code's maintainers 88and you have read the distros wiki page above and you fully understand 89the requirements that contacting "linux-distros" will impose on you and 90the kernel community. This also means that in general it doesn't make 91sense to Cc: both lists at once, except maybe for coordination if and 92while an accepted fix has not yet been merged. In other words, until a 93fix is accepted do not Cc: "linux-distros", and after it's merged do not 94Cc: the kernel security team. 95 96CVE assignment 97-------------- 98 99The security team does not assign CVEs, nor do we require them for 100reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and may 101delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier 102assigned for a confirmed issue, they can contact the :doc:`kernel CVE 103assignment team<../process/cve>` to obtain one. 104 105Non-disclosure agreements 106------------------------- 107 108The Linux kernel security team is not a formal body and therefore unable 109to enter any non-disclosure agreements. 110