nodejs/doc/contributing/security-release-process.md

Security release process

The security release process covers the steps required to plan/implement a security release. This document is copied into the description of the Next Security Release and used to track progress on the release. It contains TEXT LIKE THIS which will be replaced during the release process with the information described.

Security release stewards

For each security release, a security steward will take ownership for coordinating the steps outlined in this process. Security stewards are nominated through an issue in the TSC repository and approved through the regular TSC consensus process. Once approved, they are given access to all of the resources needed to carry out the steps listed in the process as outlined in security steward on/off boarding.

The current security stewards are documented in the main Node.js README.md.

Company	Person	Release Date
NearForm	Matteo	2021-Oct-12
Datadog	Bryan	2022-Jan-10
RH and IBM	Joe	2022-Mar-18
NearForm	Matteo / Rafael	2022-Jul-07
Datadog	Vladimir	2022-Sep-23
NodeSource	Juan	2022-Nov-04
RH and IBM	Michael	2023-Feb-16
NearForm	Rafael	2023-Jun-20
NearForm	Rafael	2023-Aug-09
NearForm	Rafael	2023-Oct-13
NodeSource	Rafael	2024-Feb-14
NodeSource	Rafael	2024-Apr-03
NodeSource	Rafael	2024-Apr-10
Datadog	Bryan
IBM	Joe
Platformatic	Matteo
NodeSource	Juan
Red Hat	Michael

Planning

• Open an issue titled Next Security Release, and put this checklist in the description.

• Get agreement on the list of vulnerabilities to be addressed:

  • H1 REPORT LINK: DESCRIPTION (CVE or H1 CVE request link)
    • v10.x, v12.x: LINK to PR URL
  • ...

• PR release announcements in private:

  • (Use previous PRs as templates. Don't forget to update the site banner and the date in the slug so that it will move to the top of the blog list.)
  • (Consider using a Vulnerability Score System to identify severity of each report)
  • Share the patch with the reporter when applicable. It will increase the fix accuracy.
  • pre-release: LINK TO PR
  • post-release: LINK TO PR
    • List vulnerabilities in order of descending severity
    • Use the "summary" feature in HackerOne to sync post-release content and CVE requests. Example 2038134
    • Ask the HackerOne reporter if they would like to be credited on the security release blog page:

      Thank you to <name> for reporting this vulnerability.
      

• Get agreement on the planned date for the release: RELEASE DATE

• Get release team volunteers for all affected lines:

  • v12.x: NAME of RELEASER(S)
  • ... other lines, if multiple releasers

Announcement (one week in advance of the planned release)

• Check that all vulnerabilities are ready for release integration:

  • PRs against all affected release lines or cherry-pick clean
  • PRs with breaking changes have a --security-revert option if possible.
  • Approved
  • (optional) Approved by the reporter
    • Build and send the binary to the reporter according to its architecture and ask for a review. This step is important to avoid insufficient fixes between Security Releases.
  • Pass make test
  • Have CVEs
    • Use the "summary" feature in HackerOne to create a description for the CVE and the post release announcement. Example 2038134
    • Make sure that dependent libraries have CVEs for their issues. We should only create CVEs for vulnerabilities in Node.js itself. This is to avoid having duplicate CVEs for the same vulnerability.
  • Described in the pre/post announcements

• Pre-release announcement to nodejs.org blog: LINK TO BLOG (Re-PR the pre-approved branch from nodejs-private/nodejs.org-private to nodejs/nodejs.org)

  If the security release will only contain an OpenSSL update consider adding the following to the pre-release announcement:

  Since this security release will only include updates for OpenSSL, if you're using
  a Node.js version which is part of a distribution which uses a system
  installed OpenSSL, this Node.js security update might not concern you. You may
  instead need to update your system OpenSSL libraries, please check the
  security announcements for the distribution.
  

• Pre-release announcement email: LINK TO EMAIL

  • Subject: Node.js security updates for all active release lines, Month Year
  • Body:

  The Node.js project will release new versions of all supported release lines on or shortly after Day of week, Month Day of Month, Year
  For more information see: https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/month-year-security-releases/
  

  (Get access from existing manager: Matteo Collina, Rodd Vagg, Michael Dawson, Bryan English)

• CC oss-security@lists.openwall.com on pre-release

The google groups UI does not support adding a CC, until we figure out a better way, forward the email you receive to oss-security@lists.openwall.com as a CC.

• Post in the nodejs-social channel in the OpenJS slack asking for amplification of the blog post.

  Security release pre-alert:
  
  We will release new versions of <add versions> release lines on or shortly
  after Day Month Date, Year in order to address:
  
  - # high severity issues
  - # moderate severity issues
  
  https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/month-year-security-releases/
  

  We specifically ask that collaborators other than the releasers and security steward working on the security release do not tweet or publicise the release until the tweet from the Node.js twitter handle goes out. We have often seen tweets sent out before the release and associated announcements are complete which may confuse those waiting for the release and also takes away from the work the releasers have put into shipping the releases.

• Request releaser(s) to start integrating the PRs to be released.

• Notify docker-node of upcoming security release date: LINK

  Heads up of Node.js security releases Day Month Year
  
  As per the Node.js security release process this is the FYI that there is going to be a security release Day Month Year
  

• Notify build-wg of upcoming security release date by opening an issue in nodejs/build to request WG members are available to fix any CI issues.

  Heads up of Node.js security releases Day Month Year
  
  As per security release process this is a heads up that there will be security releases Day Month Year and we'll need people from build to lock/unlock ci and to support and build issues we see.
  

Release day

• Lock CI

• The releaser(s) run the release process to completion.

• Unlock CI

• Post-release announcement to Nodejs.org blog: LINK TO BLOG POST

  • (Re-PR the pre-approved branch from nodejs-private/nodejs.org-private to nodejs/nodejs.org)

• Post-release announcement in reply email: LINK TO EMAIL

  • CC: oss-security@lists.openwall.com
  • Subject: Node.js security updates for all active release lines, Month Year
  • Body:

  The Node.js project has now released new versions of all supported release lines.
  For more information see: https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/month-year-security-releases/
  

• Post in the nodejs-social channel in the OpenJS slack asking for amplification of the blog post.

  Security release:
  
  New security releases are now available for versions <add versions> of Node.js.
  
  https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/month-year-security-releases/
  

• Comment in docker-node issue that release is ready for integration. The docker-node team will build and release docker image updates.

• For every H1 report resolved:

  • Close as Resolved
  • Request Disclosure
  • Request publication of H1 CVE requests
    • (Check that the "Version Fixed" field in the CVE is correct, and provide links to the release blogs in the "Public Reference" section)
  • In case the reporter doesn't accept the disclosure follow this process:
    • Remove the original report reference within the reference text box and insert the public URL you would like to be attached to this CVE.
    • Then uncheck the Public Disclosure on HackerOne box at the bottom of the page.

• PR machine-readable JSON descriptions of the vulnerabilities to the core vulnerability DB. LINK TO PR

  • For each vulnerability add a #.json file, one can copy an existing json file, and increment the latest created file number and use that as the name of the new file to be added. For example, 79.json.

• Close this issue

• Make sure the PRs for the vulnerabilities are closed.

• PR in that you stewarded the release in Security release stewards. If necessary add the next rotation of the steward rotation.

Adding a security revert option

Breaking changes are allowed in existing LTS lines in order to fix important security vulnerabilities. When breaking changes are made it is important to provide a command line option that restores the original behaviour.

The existing Node.js codebase supports the command line option --security-revert and has the boilerplate to make additions for a specific CVE easy.

To add an option to revert for a CVE, for example CVE-2024-1234 simply add this line to node_revert.h

  XX(CVE_2024_1234, "CVE-2024-1234", "Description of cve")

This will allow an easy check of whether a reversion has been requested or not.

In JavaScript code you can check:

if (process.REVERT_CVE_2024_1234);

In C/C++ code you can check:

IsReverted(SECURITY_REVERT_CVE_2024_1234)

From the command line a user can request the revert by using the --security-revert option as follows:

node --security-revert=CVE-2024-1234

If there are multiple security reverts then multiple instances of --security-revert can be used. For example:

node --security-revert=CVE-2024-1234 --security-revert=CVE-2024-XXXX

When things go wrong

Incomplete fixes

When a CVE is reported as fixed in a security release and it turns out that the fix was incomplete, a new CVE should be used to cover subsequent fix. This is best practice and avoids confusion that might occur if people believe they have patched the original CVE by updating their Node.js version and then we later change the fixed in value for the CVE.

Updating CVEs

The steps to correct CVE information are:

• Go to the “CVE IDs” section in your program sections (https://hackerone.com/nodejs/cve_requests)
• Click the “Request a CVE ID” button
• Enter the CVE ID that needs to be updated
• Include all the details that need updating within the form
• Submit the request