May 30, 2024 at 10:06AM
In 2023, over 23,000 vulnerabilities were disclosed, leading to a race to release exploits. Coordinated disclosure involves alerting vendors and waiting to publicly release findings. Full disclosure argues for immediate transparency to prompt patches. Responsible disclosure is crucial due to the potential exploitation of vulnerabilities. Publicly releasing exploit research can hinder defense efforts and patch management.
Key Takeaways from the Meeting Notes:
1. There were over 23,000 vulnerabilities discovered and disclosed in 2023, leading to a race to be the first to release an exploit for new vulnerabilities, creating potential risks for organizations.
2. Coordinated disclosure involves security researchers coordinating with vendors to alert them of a vulnerability, while full disclosure is releasing the information as early as possible without restriction.
3. Google’s coordinated disclosure policy, which involves notifying vendors immediately and publicly sharing the vulnerability after 90 days, is a commonly accepted baseline.
4. As defenders, the ethical obligation is to protect customers, which aligns with adhering to a policy of coordinated disclosure for new vulnerabilities.
5. Security researchers are motivated by visibility for their research, but responsible disclosure is crucial to avoid enabling attackers and harming the very customers they aim to defend.
6. While exploit research is necessary, publicly disclosing exploits in detail can do more harm than good, especially in the current threat landscape and the reality of patch management across organizations.
Overall, the meeting highlighted the importance of ethical and responsible vulnerability disclosure to protect customers and avoid giving malicious actors an advantage. It also emphasized the potential harm of publicly disclosing exploit research in detail, considering the monitoring of such information by threat actors.