From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on archive.lwn.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-5.7 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_HI,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by archive.lwn.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id C7CD07D910 for ; Mon, 5 Aug 2019 14:40:56 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1729660AbfHEOky (ORCPT ); Mon, 5 Aug 2019 10:40:54 -0400 Received: from out03.mta.xmission.com ([166.70.13.233]:43799 "EHLO out03.mta.xmission.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1729133AbfHEOky (ORCPT ); Mon, 5 Aug 2019 10:40:54 -0400 Received: from in02.mta.xmission.com ([166.70.13.52]) by out03.mta.xmission.com with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:128) (Exim 4.87) (envelope-from ) id 1hueAP-00089V-En; Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:40:53 -0600 Received: from ip68-227-160-95.om.om.cox.net ([68.227.160.95] helo=x220.xmission.com) by in02.mta.xmission.com with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:128) (Exim 4.87) (envelope-from ) id 1hueAD-0006yY-3G; Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:40:53 -0600 From: ebiederm@xmission.com (Eric W. Biederman) To: Jiri Kosina Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Jonathan Corbet , security@kernel.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, Thomas Gleixner , Mauro Carvalho Chehab References: <20190725130113.GA12932@kroah.com> Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2019 09:40:21 -0500 In-Reply-To: (Jiri Kosina's message of "Sun, 4 Aug 2019 02:17:00 +0200 (CEST)") Message-ID: <87blx3n0a2.fsf@xmission.com> User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/25.1 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-XM-SPF: eid=1hueAD-0006yY-3G;;;mid=<87blx3n0a2.fsf@xmission.com>;;;hst=in02.mta.xmission.com;;;ip=68.227.160.95;;;frm=ebiederm@xmission.com;;;spf=neutral X-XM-AID: U2FsdGVkX1/734h3jRw/GfGy5IwgZetr3oaBMoj7LHI= X-SA-Exim-Connect-IP: 68.227.160.95 X-SA-Exim-Mail-From: ebiederm@xmission.com Subject: Re: [PATCH] Documentation/admin-guide: Embargoed hardware security issues X-SA-Exim-Version: 4.2.1 (built Thu, 05 May 2016 13:38:54 -0600) X-SA-Exim-Scanned: Yes (on in02.mta.xmission.com) Sender: linux-doc-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org I skimmed this and a couple things jumped out at me. 1) PGP and S/MIME because of their use of long term keys do not provide forward secrecy. Which can makes it worth while to cryptographically factor a key or to obtain knowledge of a private key without the key holders knowledge. As the keys will be used again and again over a long period of time. More recent protocol's such as Signal's Double Ratchet Protocol enable forward secrecy for store and foward communications, and remove the problem of long term keys. 2) The existence of such a process with encrypted communications to ensure long term confidentiality is going to make our contact people the targets of people who want access to knolwedge about hardware bugs like meltdown, before they become public. I am just mentioning these things in case they are not immediately obvious to everyone else involved, so that people can be certain they are comfortable with the tradeoffs being made. Eric