7. DPDK Vulnerability Management Process

7.1. Scope

Only the main repositories (dpdk and dpdk-stable) of the core project are in the scope of this security process (including experimental APIs). If a stable branch is declared unmaintained (end of life), no fix will be applied.

All vulnerabilities are bugs, but not every bug is a vulnerability. Vulnerabilities compromise one or more of:

  • Confidentiality (personal or corporate confidential data).

  • Integrity (trustworthiness and correctness).

  • Availability (uptime and service).

If in doubt, please consider the vulnerability as security sensitive. At worst, the response will be to report the bug through the usual channels.

7.2. Finding

There is no pro-active security engineering effort at the moment.

Please report any security issue you find in DPDK as described below.

7.3. Report

Do not use Bugzilla (unsecured). Instead, send GPG-encrypted emails to security@dpdk.org. Anyone can post to this list. In order to reduce the disclosure of a vulnerability in the early stages, membership of this list is intentionally limited to a small number of people.

It is additionally encouraged to GPG-sign one-on-one conversations as part of the security process.

As it is with any bug, the more information provided, the easier it will be to diagnose and fix. If you already have a fix, please include it with your report, as that can speed up the process considerably.

In the report, please note how you would like to be credited for discovering the issue and the details of any embargo you would like to impose.

If the vulnerability is not public yet, no patch or information should be disclosed publicly. If a fix is already published, the reporting process must be followed anyway, as described below.

7.4. Confirmation

Upon reception of the report, a security team member should reply to the reporter acknowledging that the report has been received.

The DPDK security team reviews the security vulnerability reported. Area experts not members of the security team may be involved in the process. In case the reported issue is not qualified as a security vulnerability, the security team will request the submitter to report it using the usual channel (Bugzilla). If qualified, the security team will assess which DPDK version are affected. A bugzilla ID (allocated in a reserved pool) is assigned to the vulnerability, and kept empty until public disclosure.

The security team calculates the severity score with CVSS calculator based on inputs from the reporter and its own assessment of the vulnerability, and agrees on the score with the reporter.

An embargo may be put in place depending on the severity of the vulnerability. If an embargo is decided, its duration should be suggested by the security team and negotiated with the reporter. Embargo duration between vulnerability confirmation and public disclosure should be between one and ten weeks. If an embargo is not required, the vulnerability may be fixed using the standard patch process, once a CVE number has been assigned.

The confirmation mail should be sent within 3 business days.

Following information must be included in the mail:

  • Confirmation

  • CVSS severity and score

  • Embargo duration

  • Reporter credit

  • Bug ID (empty and restricted for future reference)

7.5. CVE Request

The security team develops a security advisory document. The security team may, at its discretion, include the reporter (via “CC”) in developing the security advisory document, but in any case should accept feedback from the reporter before finalizing the document. When the document is final, the security team needs to request a CVE identifier from a CNA.

The CVE request should be sent to secalert@redhat.com using GPG encrypted email (see contact details).

7.5.1. CVE Request Template with Embargo

A vulnerability was discovered in the DPDK project.
In order to ensure full traceability, we need a CVE number assigned
that we can attach to private and public notifications.
Please treat the following information as confidential during the embargo
until further public disclosure.

[PRODUCT]:
[VERSION]:
[PROBLEMTYPE]:
[SEVERITY]:
[REFERENCES]: { bug_url }
[DESCRIPTION]:

Thanks
{ DPDK_security_team_member }, on behalf of the DPDK security team

7.5.2. CVE Request Template without Embargo

A vulnerability was discovered in the DPDK project.
In order to ensure full traceability, we need a CVE number assigned
that we can attach to private and public notifications.

[PRODUCT]:
[VERSION]:
[PROBLEMTYPE]:
[SEVERITY]:
[REFERENCES]: { bug_url }
[DESCRIPTION]:

Thanks
{ DPDK_security_team_member }, on behalf of the DPDK security team

7.6. Fix Development and Review

If the fix is already published, this step is skipped, and the pre-release disclosure is replaced with the private disclosure, as described below. It must not be considered as the standard process.

This step may be started in parallel with CVE creation. The patches fixing the vulnerability are developed and reviewed by the security team and by elected area experts that agree to maintain confidentiality.

The CVE id and the bug id must be referenced in the patch.

Backports to the identified affected versions are done once the fix is ready.

7.7. Pre-Release Disclosure

When the fix is ready, the security advisory and patches are sent to downstream stakeholders (security-prerelease@dpdk.org), specifying the date and time of the end of the embargo. The communicated public disclosure date should be less than one week

Downstream stakeholders are expected not to deploy or disclose patches until the embargo is passed, otherwise they will be removed from the list.

Downstream stakeholders (in security-prerelease list), are:

  • Operating system vendors known to package DPDK

  • Major DPDK users, considered trustworthy by the technical board, who have made the request to techboard@dpdk.org

The OSS security private mailing list mailto:distros@vs.openwall.org> will also be contacted one week before the end of the embargo, as indicated by the OSS-security process <https://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros> and using the PGP key listed on the same page, describing the details of the vulnerability and sharing the patch[es]. Distributions and major vendors follow this private mailing list, and it functions as a single point of contact for embargoed advance notices for open source projects.

The security advisory will be based on below template, and will be sent signed with a security team’s member GPG key.

7.7.1. Pre-Release Mail Template

This is an advance warning of a vulnerability discovered in DPDK,
to give you, as downstream stakeholders, a chance to coordinate
the release of fixes and reduce the vulnerability window.
Please treat the following information as confidential until
the proposed public disclosure date.

{ impact_description }

Proposed patches are attached.
Unless a flaw is discovered in them, these patches will be merged
to { branches } on the public disclosure date.

CVE: { cve_id }
Severity: { severity }
CVSS scores: { cvss_scores }

Proposed public disclosure date/time: { disclosure_date } at 15:00 UTC.
Please do not make the issue public (or release public patches)
before this coordinated embargo date.

If the issue is leaked during the embargo, the same procedure is followed with only a few days delay between the pre-release and the public disclosure.

7.8. Private Disclosure

If a vulnerability is unintentionally already fixed in the public repository, a security advisory is sent to downstream stakeholders (security-prerelease@dpdk.org), giving few days to prepare for updating before the public disclosure.

7.8.1. Private Disclosure Mail Template

This is a warning of a vulnerability discovered in DPDK,
to give you, as downstream stakeholders, a chance to coordinate
the deployment of fixes before a CVE is public.

Please treat the following information as confidential until
the proposed public disclosure date.

{ impact_description }

Commits: { commit_ids with branch number }

CVE: { cve_id }
Severity: { severity }
CVSS scores: { cvss_scores }

Proposed public disclosure date/time: { disclosure_date }.
Please do not make the vulnerability information public
before this coordinated embargo date.

7.9. Public Disclosure

On embargo expiration, following tasks will be done simultaneously:

  • The assigned bug is filled by a member of the security team, with all relevant information, and it is made public.

  • The patches are pushed to the appropriate branches.

  • For long and short term stable branches fixed, new versions should be released.

Releases on Monday to Wednesday are preferred, so that system administrators do not have to deal with security updates over the weekend.

The security advisory is posted to announce@dpdk.org and to the public OSS-security mailing list <mailto:oss-security@lists.openwall.com> as soon as the patches are pushed to the appropriate branches.

Patches are then sent to dev@dpdk.org and stable@dpdk.org accordingly.

7.9.1. Release Mail Template

A vulnerability was fixed in DPDK.
Some downstream stakeholders were warned in advance
in order to coordinate the release of fixes
and reduce the vulnerability window.

{ impact_description }

Commits: { commit_ids with branch number }

CVE: { cve_id }
Bugzilla: { bug_url }
Severity: { severity }
CVSS scores: { cvss_scores }