Re: [OE-core][PATCH v8 1/3] cve-check: add option to add additional patched CVEs

Ross Burton
2023-06-23T10:03:14Z

On 22 Jun 2023, at 13:00, Andrej Valek via lists.openembedded.org <andrej.valek=siemens.com@lists.openembedded.org> wrote:
> - Replace CVE_CHECK_IGNORE with CVE_STATUS to be more flexible.
> The CVE_STATUS should contain an information about status wich
> is decoded in 3 items:
> - generic status: "Ignored", "Patched" or "Unpatched"
> - more detailed status enum
> - description: free text describing reason for status

I think this needs to be clearer about what the intended use of the keywords are.

Is the canonical data the CVE_STATUS[CVE-1234-5678] attribute, and the mapping from the status there via CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP simply for backwards compatibility with the existing file format? Is this deprecating the status fields in those files or is it just a high-level summary? Either way, that should be made clear.

> +# Possible options for CVE statuses
> +
> +# used by this class internally when fix is detected (NVD DB version check or CVE patch file)
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[patched] = "Patched"
> +# use when this class does not detect backported patch (e.g. vendor kernel repo with cherry-picked CVE patch)
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[backported-patch] = "Patched"
> +# use when NVD DB does not mention patched versions of stable/LTS branches which have upstream CVE backports
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[cpe-stable-backport] = "Patched"
> +# use when NVD DB does not mention correct version or does not mention any verion at all
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[fixed-version] = "Patched"

It bothers me that some of these status flags are working around the fact that the CPE is incorrect, when that CPE data can be fixed. Instead of setting fixed-version, we can just mail NIST and fix the CPE.

> +# used internally by this class if CVE vulnerability is detected which is not marked as fixed or ignored
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[unpatched] = "Unpatched"
> +# use when CVE is confirmed by upstream but fix is still not available
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[vulnerable-investigating] = "Unpatched"
> +
> +# used for migration from old concept, do not use for new vulnerabilities
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[ignored] = "Ignored"
> +# use when NVD DB wrongly indicates vulnerability which is actually for a different component
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[cpe-incorrect] = "Ignored"
> +# use when upstream does not accept the report as a vulnerability (e.g. works as designed)
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[disputed] = "Ignored"
> +# use when vulnerability depends on build or runtime configuration which is not used
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[not-applicable-config] = "Ignored"
> +# use when vulnerability affects other platform (e.g. Windows or Debian)
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[not-applicable-platform] = "Ignored"

> +# use when upstream acknowledged the vulnerability but does not plan to fix it
> +CVE_CHECK_STATUSMAP[upstream-wontfix] = "Ignored"

Is this any different to ‘disputed’?

Do we expect to add a lot more statuses to this table, or for users to add their own values? It feels like maybe this should be a dict in lib/oe/cve_check.py instead of exposed in the data store.

> + # Process CVE_STATUS_GROUPS to set multiple statuses and optional detail or description at once
> + for cve_status_group in (d.getVar("CVE_STATUS_GROUPS") or "").split():
> + cve_group = d.getVar(cve_status_group)
> + if cve_group is not None:
> + for cve in cve_group.split():
> + d.setVarFlag("CVE_STATUS", cve, d.getVarFlag(cve_status_group, "status"))
> + else:
> + bb.warn("CVE_STATUS_GROUPS contains undefined variable %s" % cve_status_group)
> +}

CVE_STATUS_GROUPS isn’t documented in the class or the commit message.