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 and embargoed information 30------------------------------------ 31 32The security list is not a disclosure channel. For that, see Coordination 33below. 34 35Once a robust fix has been developed, the release process starts. Fixes 36for publicly known bugs are released immediately. 37 38Although our preference is to release fixes for publicly undisclosed bugs 39as soon as they become available, this may be postponed at the request of 40the reporter or an affected party for up to 7 calendar days from the start 41of the release process, with an exceptional extension to 14 calendar days 42if it is agreed that the criticality of the bug requires more time. The 43only valid reason for deferring the publication of a fix is to accommodate 44the logistics of QA and large scale rollouts which require release 45coordination. 46 47While embargoed information may be shared with trusted individuals in 48order to develop a fix, such information will not be published alongside 49the fix or on any other disclosure channel without the permission of the 50reporter. This includes but is not limited to the original bug report 51and followup discussions (if any), exploits, CVE information or the 52identity of the reporter. 53 54In other words our only interest is in getting bugs fixed. All other 55information submitted to the security list and any followup discussions 56of the report are treated confidentially even after the embargo has been 57lifted, in perpetuity. 58 59Coordination 60------------ 61 62Fixes for sensitive bugs, such as those that might lead to privilege 63escalations, may need to be coordinated with the private 64<linux-distros@vs.openwall.org> mailing list so that distribution vendors 65are well prepared to issue a fixed kernel upon public disclosure of the 66upstream fix. Distros will need some time to test the proposed patch and 67will generally request at least a few days of embargo, and vendor update 68publication prefers to happen Tuesday through Thursday. When appropriate, 69the security team can assist with this coordination, or the reporter can 70include linux-distros from the start. In this case, remember to prefix 71the email Subject line with "[vs]" as described in the linux-distros wiki: 72<http://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros#how-to-use-the-lists> 73 74CVE assignment 75-------------- 76 77The security team does not normally assign CVEs, nor do we require them 78for reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and 79may delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier 80assigned ahead of public disclosure, they will need to contact the private 81linux-distros list, described above. When such a CVE identifier is known 82before a patch is provided, it is desirable to mention it in the commit 83message if the reporter agrees. 84 85Non-disclosure agreements 86------------------------- 87 88The Linux kernel security team is not a formal body and therefore unable 89to enter any non-disclosure agreements. 90