This change allows specific CVEs to be whitelisted when they affect a
specific feature. This is useful when a feature embeds a vulnerable
component, but uses it in a way that is not affected by the
vulnerability - and the user wants to ensure the CVE does not affect
other features (such as the OS Distribution's own package that
distributes the component).
This change allows specific CVEs to be whitelisted when they affect a specific feature. This is useful when a feature embeds a vulnerable component, but uses it in a way that is not affected by the vulnerability - and the user wants to ensure the CVE does not affect other features (such as the OS Distribution's own package that distributes the component).
See https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-8457 for a motivating example. Users may want to whitelist CVE-2019-8457 in the context of the db5.3 package, but still be confident that sqlite3 has been patched.