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 24admin-guide/reporting-bugs.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 29Disclosure 30---------- 31 32The goal of the Linux kernel security team is to work with the 33bug submitter to bug resolution as well as disclosure. We prefer 34to fully disclose the bug as soon as possible. It is reasonable to 35delay disclosure when the bug or the fix is not yet fully understood, 36the solution is not well-tested or for vendor coordination. However, we 37expect these delays to be short, measurable in days, not weeks or months. 38A disclosure date is negotiated by the security team working with the 39bug submitter as well as vendors. However, the kernel security team 40holds the final say when setting a disclosure date. The timeframe for 41disclosure is from immediate (esp. if it's already publicly known) 42to a few weeks. As a basic default policy, we expect report date to 43disclosure date to be on the order of 7 days. 44 45Coordination 46------------ 47 48Fixes for sensitive bugs, such as those that might lead to privilege 49escalations, may need to be coordinated with the private 50<linux-distros@vs.openwall.org> mailing list so that distribution vendors 51are well prepared to issue a fixed kernel upon public disclosure of the 52upstream fix. Distros will need some time to test the proposed patch and 53will generally request at least a few days of embargo, and vendor update 54publication prefers to happen Tuesday through Thursday. When appropriate, 55the security team can assist with this coordination, or the reporter can 56include linux-distros from the start. In this case, remember to prefix 57the email Subject line with "[vs]" as described in the linux-distros wiki: 58<http://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros#how-to-use-the-lists> 59 60CVE assignment 61-------------- 62 63The security team does not normally assign CVEs, nor do we require them 64for reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and 65may delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier 66assigned ahead of public disclosure, they will need to contact the private 67linux-distros list, described above. When such a CVE identifier is known 68before a patch is provided, it is desirable to mention it in the commit 69message, though. 70 71Non-disclosure agreements 72------------------------- 73 74The Linux kernel security team is not a formal body and therefore unable 75to enter any non-disclosure agreements. 76