Re: [PATCH] Documentation: Document the Linux Kernel CVE process

[Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 07:43:32AM +0100, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 02:35:24PM -0800, Kees Cook wrote:
> > On Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 07:48:12PM +0100, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> > > +No CVEs will be assigned for unfixed security issues in the Linux
> > > +kernel, assignment will only happen after a fix is available as it can
> > > +be properly tracked that way by the git commit id of the original fix.
> > 
> > This seems at odds with the literal definition of what CVEs are:
> > _vulnerability_ enumeration. This is used especially during the
> > coordination of fixes; how is this meant to interact with embargoed
> > vulnerability fixing?
> 
> Yes, this is totally wrong, it was the original first draft of the
> document, that I did on my workstation, and then went on the road for 3+
> weeks and I never sycned up when I got home with the updated version
> that is on my laptop.  The updated version addresses this, as it was
> rightly pointed out by the CVE group that this is not how a CNA is
> supposed to only work.
> 
> Yet another reason why keeping changes private is a major pain, not only
> for security ones!  :(
> 
> Let me send out the proper one after my morning coffee has kicked in and
> I resolve the differences, and make the grammer fixes that Randy pointed
> out...

To make it more obvious here, as others have pointed this out to me as
well, here's the updated paragraph that will be in my v2 patch, with
proper ';' usage:

	No CVEs will be automatically assigned for unfixed security issues in
	the Linux kernel; assignment will only automatically happen after a fix
	is available and applied to a stable kernel tree, and it will be tracked
	that way by the git commit id of the original fix.  If anyone wishes to
	have a CVE assigned before an issue is resolved with a commit, please
	contact the kernel CVE assignment team at <cve@kernel.org> to get an
	identifier assigned from their batch of reserved identifiers.

Does that help explain the process better?

thanks,

greg k-h