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authorGreg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>2019-07-25 15:01:43 +0200
committerGreg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>2019-07-25 15:01:43 +0200
commitf5b3fcfe96d6328cbac586d25823527a257b5995 (patch)
tree03ce7d8f4a8868efbac7f3edab816915bfba87f6 /l.patch
parenteb49b51a091d445ec2f737712b88687ed54651b8 (diff)
downloadpatches-f5b3fcfe96d6328cbac586d25823527a257b5995.tar.gz
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+[PATCH V6] Documentation/admin-guide: Embargoed hardware security issues
+
+To address the requirements of embargoed hardware issues, like Meltdown,
+Spectre, L1TF etc. it is necessary to define and document a process for
+handling embargoed hardware security issues.
+
+Following the discussion at the maintainer summit 2018 in Edinburgh
+(https://lwn.net/Articles/769417/) the volunteered people have worked
+out a process and a Memorandum of Understanding. The latter addresses
+the fact that the Linux kernel community cannot sign NDAs for various
+reasons.
+
+The initial contact point for hardware security issues is different from
+the regular kernel security contact to provide a known and neutral
+interface for hardware vendors and researchers. The initial primary
+contact team is proposed to be staffed by Linux Foundation Fellows, who
+are not associated to a vendor or a distribution and are well connected
+in the industry as a whole.
+
+The process is designed with the experience of the past incidents in
+mind and tries to address the remaining gaps, so future (hopefully rare)
+incidents can be handled more efficiently. It won’t remove the fact,
+that most of this has to be done behind closed doors, but it is set up
+to avoid big bureaucratic hurdles for individual developers.
+
+The process is solely for handling hardware security issues and cannot
+be used for regular kernel (software only) security bugs.
+
+This memo can help with hardware companies who, and I quote, "[my
+manager] doesn't want to bet his job on the list keeping things secret."
+This despite numerous leaks directly from that company over the years,
+and none ever so far from the kernel security team. Cognitive
+dissidence seems to be a requirement to be a good manager.
+
+To accelerate the adoption of this process, we introduce the concept of
+ambassadors in participating companies. The ambassadors are there to
+guide people to comply with the process, but are not automatically
+involved in the disclosure of a particular incident.
+
+Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
+Reviewed-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
+Reviewed-by: Jiri Kosina <jkosina@suse.com>
+Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
+
+---
+ Documentation/admin-guide/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst | 281 ++++++++++++++++
+ Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst | 1
+ 2 files changed, 282 insertions(+)
+
+--- /dev/null
++++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
+@@ -0,0 +1,281 @@
++.. _embargoedhardwareissues:
++
++Embargoed hardware issues
++=========================
++
++Scope
++-----
++
++Hardware issues which result in security problems are a different category
++of security bugs than pure software bugs which only affect the Linux
++kernel.
++
++Hardware issues like Meltdown, Spectre, L1TF etc. must be treated
++differently because they usually affect all Operating Systems (“OS“) and
++therefore need coordination across different OS vendors, distributions,
++hardware vendors and other parties. For some of the issues, software
++mitigations can depend on microcode or firmware updates, which need further
++coordination.
++
++.. _Contact:
++
++Contact
++-------
++
++The Linux kernel hardware security team is separate from the regular Linux
++kernel security team.
++
++The team is only handling the coordination of embargoed hardware security
++issues. Reports of pure software security bugs in the Linux kernel are not
++handled by this team and the reporter will be guided to contact the regular
++Linux kernel security team (:ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/
++<securitybugs>`) instead.
++
++The team can be contacted by email at <hardware-security@kernel.org>. This
++is a private list of security officers who will help you to coordinate an
++issue according to our documented process.
++
++The list is encrypted and email to the list can be sent by either PGP or
++S/MIME encrypted and must be signed with the reporter's PGP key or S/MIME
++certificate. The list's PGP key and S/MIME certificate are available from
++https://www.kernel.org/....
++
++While hardware security issues are often handled by the affected hardware
++vendor, we welcome contact from researchers or individuals who identified a
++potential hardware flaw.
++
++Hardware security officers
++^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
++
++The current team of hardware security officers:
++
++ - Linus Torvalds (Linux Foundation Fellow)
++ - Greg Kroah-Hartman (Linux Foundation Fellow)
++ - Thomas Gleixner (Linux Foundation Fellow)
++
++Operation of mailing-lists
++^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
++
++The encrypted mailing-lists which are used in our process are hosted on
++Linux Foundation's IT infrastructure. By providing this service Linux
++Foundation's director of IT Infrastructure security technically has the
++ability to access the embargoed information, but is obliged to
++confidentiality by his employment contract. Linux Foundation's director of
++IT Infrastructure security is also responsible for the kernel.org
++infrastructure.
++
++The Linux Foundation's current director of IT Infrastructure security is
++Konstantin Ryabitsev.
++
++
++Non-disclosure agreements
++-------------------------
++
++The Linux kernel hardware security team is not a formal body and therefore
++unable to enter into any non-disclosure agreements. The kernel community
++is aware of the sensitive nature of such issues and offers a Memorandum of
++Understanding instead.
++
++
++Memorandum of Understanding
++---------------------------
++
++The Linux kernel community has a deep understanding of the requirement to
++keep hardware security issues under embargo for coordination between
++different OS vendors, distributors, hardware vendors and other parties.
++
++The Linux kernel community has successfully handled hardware security
++issues in the past and has the necessary mechanisms in place to allow
++community compliant development under embargo restrictions.
++
++The Linux kernel community has a dedicated hardware security team for
++initial contact, which oversees the process of handling such issues under
++embargo rules.
++
++The hardware security team identifies the developers (domain experts) which
++form the initial response team for a particular issue. The initial response
++team can bring in further developers (domain experts) to address the issue
++in the best technical way.
++
++All involved developers pledge to adhere to the embargo rules and to keep
++the received information confidential. Violation of the pledge will lead to
++immediate exclusion from the current issue and removal from all related
++mailing-lists. In addition, the hardware security team will also exclude
++the offender from future issues. The impact of this consequence is a highly
++effective deterrent in our community. In case a violation happens the
++hardware security team will inform the involved parties immediately. If you
++or anyone becomes aware of a potential violation, please report it
++immediately to the Hardware security officers.
++
++
++Process
++^^^^^^^
++
++Due to the globally distributed nature of Linux kernel development, face to
++face meetings are almost impossible to address hardware security issues.
++Phone conferences are hard to coordinate due to time zones and other
++factors and should be only used when absolutely necessary. Encrypted email
++has been proven to be the most effective and secure communication method
++for these types of issues.
++
++Start of Disclosure
++"""""""""""""""""""
++
++Disclosure starts by contacting the Linux kernel hardware security team by
++email. This initial contact should contain a description of the problem and
++a list of any known affected hardware. If your organization builds or
++distributes the affected hardware, we encourage you to also consider what
++other hardware could be affected.
++
++The hardware security team will provide a per incident specific encrypted
++mailing-list which will be used for initial discussion with the reporter,
++further disclosure and coordination.
++
++The hardware security team will provide the disclosing party a list of
++developers (domain experts) who should be informed initially about the
++issue after confirming with the developers that they will adhere to this
++Memorandum of Understanding and the documented process. These developers
++form the initial response team and will be responsible for handling the
++issue after initial contact. The hardware security team is supporting the
++response team, but is not necessarily involved in the mitigation
++development process.
++
++While individual developers might be covered by a non-disclosure agreement
++via their employer, they cannot enter individual non-disclosure agreements
++in their role as Linux kernel developers. They will, however, adhere to
++this documented process and the Memorandum of Understanding.
++
++
++Disclosure
++""""""""""
++
++The disclosing party provides detailed information to the initial response
++team via the specific encrypted mailing-list.
++
++From our experience the technical documentation of these issues is usually
++a sufficient starting point and further technical clarification is best
++done via email.
++
++Mitigation development
++""""""""""""""""""""""
++
++The initial response team sets up an encrypted mailing-list or repurposes
++an existing one if appropriate. The disclosing party should provide a list
++of contacts for all other parties who have already been, or should be
++informed about the issue. The response team contacts these parties so they
++can name experts who should be subscribed to the mailing-list.
++
++Using a mailing-list is close to the normal Linux development process and
++has been successfully used in developing mitigations for various hardware
++security issues in the past.
++
++The mailing-list operates in the same way as normal Linux development.
++Patches are posted, discussed and reviewed and if agreed on applied to a
++non-public git repository which is only accessible to the participating
++developers via a secure connection. The repository contains the main
++development branch against the mainline kernel and backport branches for
++stable kernel versions as necessary.
++
++The initial response team will identify further experts from the Linux
++kernel developer community as needed and inform the disclosing party about
++their participation. Bringing in experts can happen at any time of the
++development process and often needs to be handled in a timely manner.
++
++Coordinated release
++"""""""""""""""""""
++
++The involved parties will negotiate the date and time where the embargo
++ends. At that point the prepared mitigations are integrated into the
++relevant kernel trees and published.
++
++While we understand that hardware security issues need coordinated embargo
++time, the embargo time should be constrained to the minimum time which is
++required for all involved parties to develop, test and prepare the
++mitigations. Extending embargo time artificially to meet conference talk
++dates or other non-technical reasons is creating more work and burden for
++the involved developers and response teams as the patches need to be kept
++up to date in order to follow the ongoing upstream kernel development,
++which might create conflicting changes.
++
++CVE assignment
++""""""""""""""
++
++Neither the hardware security team nor the initial response team assign
++CVEs, nor are CVEs required for the development process. If CVEs are
++provided by the disclosing party they can be used for documentation
++purposes.
++
++Process ambassadors
++-------------------
++
++For assistance with this process we have established ambassadors in various
++organizations, who can answer questions about or provide guidance on the
++reporting process and further handling. Ambassadors are not involved in the
++disclosure of a particular issue, unless requested by a response team or by
++an involved disclosed party. The current ambassadors list:
++
++ ============== ========================================================
++ ARM
++ AMD
++ IBM
++ Intel
++ Qualcomm
++
++ Microsoft
++ VMware
++ XEN
++
++ Canonical
++ Debian
++ Oracle
++ Redhat
++ Suse Jiri Kosina <jkosina@suse.com>
++
++ Amazon
++ Google
++ ============== ========================================================
++
++If you want your organization to be added to the ambassadors list, please
++contact the hardware security team. The nominated ambassador has to
++understand and support our process fully and is ideally well connected in
++the Linux kernel community.
++
++Encrypted mailing-lists
++-----------------------
++
++We use encrypted mailing-lists for communication. The operating principle
++of these lists is that email sent to the list is encrypted either with the
++list's PGP key or with the list's S/MIME certificate. The mailing-list
++software decrypts the email and re-encrypts it individually for each
++subscriber with the subscriber's PGP key or S/MIME certificate. Details
++about the mailing-list software and the setup which is used to ensure the
++security of the lists and protection of the data can be found here:
++https://www.kernel.org/....
++
++List keys
++^^^^^^^^^
++
++For initial contact see :ref:`Contact`. For incident specific mailing-lists
++the key and S/MIME certificate are conveyed to the subscribers by email
++sent from the specific list.
++
++Subscription to incident specific lists
++^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
++
++Subscription is handled by the response teams. Disclosed parties who want
++to participate in the communication send a list of potential subscribers to
++the response team so the response team can validate subscription requests.
++
++Each subscriber needs to send a subscription request to the response team
++by email. The email must be signed with the subscriber's PGP key or S/MIME
++certificate. If a PGP key is used, it must be available from a public key
++server and is ideally connected to the Linux kernel's PGP web of trust. See
++also: https://www.kernel.org/signature.html.
++
++The response team verifies that the subscriber request is valid and adds
++the subscriber to the list. After subscription the subscriber will receive
++email from the mailing-list which is signed either with the list's PGP key
++or the list's S/MIME certificate. The subscriber's email client can extract
++the PGP key or the S/MIME certificate from the signature so the subscriber
++can send encrypted email to the list.
++
+--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
++++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
+@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ problems and bugs in particular.
+
+ reporting-bugs
+ security-bugs
++ embargoed-hardware-issues
+ bug-hunting
+ bug-bisect
+ tainted-kernels