Security Policies

[mikeal]

We should have well documented policies around vulnerability disclosure, reporting and security advisory notices.

I bet @evilpacket has things to say :)

[evilpacket]

Here is what I provided to the Node.js project in the past based on other policies and structure that I thought was well thought through. Specifically the ember security process which has links to other great sources. Welcome comments on any of it.

Important aspects are the communication with the disclosing party (read 1337 haxor) and then with the public once a patch is in place. I simply can't stress good communication enough. So a clear channel to get security issues on and a good output channel to broadcast them once addressed.

The other important thing is what happens in the middle. Obviously communication as to what is going on with a fix, but timely fixes as well. Pretty sure that is already engrained in the spirit of io.js based on the wanting to get latest v8 in quickly and release quickly, so not that worried about being able to execute on that.

Reporting a Bug

All security bugs in io.js are taken seriously and should be reported by email to security@iojs.org. This will be delivered to a subset of the core team who handle security issues.

Your email will be acknowledged within 24 hours, and you’ll receive a more detailed response to your email within 48 hours indicating the next steps in handling your report.

After the initial reply to your report, the security team will endeavor to keep you informed of the progress being made towards a fix and full announcement, and may ask for additional information or guidance surrounding the reported issue. These updates will be sent at least every five days, in practice, this is more likely to be every 24-48 hours.

If you have not received a reply to your email within 48 hours, or have not heard from the security team for the past five days, there are a few steps you can take:

• Contact the current security coordinator (Person) directly.
• Contact the back-up contact (Person2) directly.

Security bugs in third party modules should be reported to their respective maintainers and can also be coordinated through the Node Security Project.

Thank you for improving the security of Node.js. Your efforts and responsible disclosure are greatly appreciated and will be acknowledged.

Disclosure Policy

Here is the security disclosure policy for Node.js

• The security report is received and is assigned a primary handler. This person will coordinate the fix and release process. The problem is confirmed and a list of all affected versions is determined. Code is audited to find any potential similar problems. Fixes are prepared for all releases which are still under maintenance. These fixes are not committed to the public repository but rather held locally pending the announcement.
• A suggested embargo date for this vulnerability is chosen and a CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®)) is requested for the vulnerability.
• On the embargo date, the io.js security mailing list is sent a copy of the announcement. The changes are pushed to the public repository and new builds are deployed to iojs.org. Within 6 hours of the mailing list being notified, a copy of the advisory will be published on the iojs.org blog.
• Typically the embargo date will be set 72 hours from the time the CVE is issued. However, this may vary depending on the severity of the bug or difficulty in applying a fix.
• This process can take some time, especially when coordination is required with maintainers of other projects. Every effort will be made to handle the bug in as timely a manner as possible, however, it’s important that we follow the release process above to ensure that the disclosure is handled in a consistent manner.

Receiving Security Updates

Security notifications will be distributed via the following methods.

• links to those things
• here

Core Security Team

The following people make up the io.js core security team.

• insert
• list
• here

Comments on this Policy

If you have suggestions on how this process could be improved please submit a pull request or email security@iojs.org to discuss.

[brendanashworth]

Seems like the structure put forward by @evilpacket is uncontested. Would a SECURITY.md file in the root of the project do the job? I think a pull request is the next step now.

[mikeal]

yes please! :)

[brendanashworth]

@evilpacket would you like to send in a PR with your policy?

[evilpacket]

Yes. I'll hit that up after node summit.

On Feb 9, 2015, at 11:09 PM, Brendan Ashworth notifications@github.com wrote:

@evilpacket would you like to send in a PR with your policy?

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[mikeal]

@evilpacket poke! it's after Node Summit :)

[Fishrock123]

@evilpacket Status?

[brendanashworth]

ping @evilpacket, I can PR this in if you'd like.

[Qard]

Is anything happening with this? We have some security process in-place, and a note in the readme. Do we still want this more detailed document?

[silverwind]

No movment here since a long time, and some information above is already outdated with the node merger. I'll close this.