Re: [PATCH v3] Documentation: Document the Linux Kernel CVE process

Greg Kroah-Hartman
2024-02-14T14:32:17Z

On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 01:55:43PM +0000, Mark Brown wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 02:43:48PM +0100, Jiri Kosina wrote:
> > On Wed, 14 Feb 2024, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
>
> > > +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.
>
> > I think this needs way more clarification .. how exactly is this going to
> > work?
>
> > Do I read this correctly that *everything* that lands in -stable will
> > automatically get CVE assigned? If so, that's just plain crazy. Just took
> > a random peek on the topmost -stable changelog ...
>
> > ASoC: codecs: wsa883x: fix PA volume control
> > ASoC: codecs: lpass-wsa-macro: fix compander volume hack
> > ASoC: codecs: wcd938x: fix headphones volume controls
> > ASoC: qcom: sc8280xp: limit speaker volumes
> > drm/amdgpu: Fix missing error code in 'gmc_v6/7/8/9_0_hw_init()'
>
> > Only the last one can *potentially* be considered a CVE candidate, but
> > someone would actually have to take a *deep* look. Most likely it'll be a
> > functional issue, but not a security issue by any measures.
>
> Not addressing your point in general but the speaker volume limiting is
> security relevant, that change prevents physical damage to the system.
> There's an argument for many headphone volume related fixes too since
> excessively large volumes can cause substantial distress and potential
> injury to users (I can't remember if that fix would be relevant to that
> issue).

And this points to the fact that we now have a way, if a
maintainer/developer says "hey, that commit could be a potential issue,
I want to call that out to others!" they now have a path to do so. Just
email cve@kernel.org "can you assign a cve to git id XXXX because of
YYY" and we will do so.

thanks!

greg k-h