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

Greg Kroah-Hartman
2024-02-16T11:25:49Z

On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 07:36:20PM +0100, Michal Hocko wrote:
> On Thu 15-02-24 19:20:09, Greg KH wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 15, 2024 at 06:54:17PM +0100, Michal Hocko wrote:
> > > On Wed 14-02-24 09:00:30, Greg KH wrote:
> > > [...]
> > > > +Process
> > > > +-------
> > > > +
> > > > +As part of the normal stable release process, kernel changes that are
> > > > +potentially security issues are identified by the developers responsible
> > > > +for CVE number assignments and have CVE numbers automatically assigned
> > > > +to them. These assignments are published on the linux-cve-announce
> > > > +mailing list as announcements on a frequent basis.
> > > > +
> > > > +Note, due to the layer at which the Linux kernel is in a system, almost
> > > > +any bug might be exploitable to compromise the security of the kernel,
> > > > +but the possibility of exploitation is often not evident when the bug is
> > > > +fixed. Because of this, the CVE assignment team is overly cautious and
> > > > +assign CVE numbers to any bugfix that they identify. This
> > > > +explains the seemingly large number of CVEs that are issued by the Linux
> > > > +kernel team.
> > >
> > > Does the process focus only on assigning CVE numbers to a given upstream
> > > commit(s) withou any specifics of the actual security threat covered by
> > > the said CVE?
> >
> > Outside of the git commit text, no, we are not going to be adding
> > anything additional to the report, UNLESS someone wants to add
> > additional text to it, and then we will be glad to update a CVE entry
> > with the additional information.
>
> OK, so what is the point of having CVE assigned to such a commit without
> any addional information which is already referenced by the kernel sha?
> What is the actual added value of that CVE?

It provides the proper signal to others that "hey, this is a
vulnerability that you might want to take if it affects you". Right now
we are fixing lots and lots of things and no one notices as their
"traditional" path of only looking at CVEs for the kernel is totally
incorrect.

> > Here's an example of what the CVE announcement is going to look like for
> > a "test" that we have been doing for our scripts
> > https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2024021353-drainage-unstuffed-a7c0@gregkh/T/#u
>
> Thanks this gave me some idea. One worrying part is
> : Please note that only supported kernel versions have fixes applied to
> : them. For a full list of currently supported kernel versions, please
> : see https://www.kernel.org/
>
> >From the above it is not really clear "supported by _whom_". Because I
> am pretty sure there are _fully_ supported kernels outside of that list
> which are actively maintained.

Very true, how about this wording change:
For a full list of currently supported kernel versions by the
kernel developer community, please see https://www.kernel.org/

I added "by the kernel developer community", is that ok?

And as you're here, I have no objection to adding the vulnerable/fixes
info from various distros that are curently based on these same
kernel.org versions if you wish to provide them to me. Give us a few
more days to nail down the version reporting format and then take a look
at it to see if you all can tie into that.

thanks,

greg k-h