Network Working Group E. Foudil
Internet-Draft
Intended status: Informational September 10, 2017
Expires: February 20, 2018
A Method for Web Security Policies
draft-foudil-securitytxt-00
Abstract
When security risks in web services are discovered by independent
security researchers who understand the severity of the risk, they
often lack the channels to properly disclose them. As a result,
security issues may be left unreported. Security.txt defines a
standard to help organizations define the process for security
researchers to securely disclose security vulnerabilities.
Status of This Memo
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provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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This Internet-Draft will expire on February 20, 2018.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
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to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
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the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
1. Introduction
1.1. Motivation
Many security researchers encounter situations where they are unable
to responsibly disclose security issues to companies because there is
no course of action laid out. Security.txt is designed to help
assist in this process by making it easier for companies to designate
the preferred steps for researchers to take when trying to reach out.
1.2. Terminology
In this document, the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED",
"SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY",
and "OPTIONAL" are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119
[RFC2119].
2. The Specification
Security.txt is a text file located in the website's top-level
directory. This text file contains 4 directives with different
values. The "directive" is the first part of a field all the way up
to the colon ("In-scope:"). Directives are case-insensitive. The
"value" comes after the directive ("example.com"). A "field" always
consists of a directive and a value ("In-scope: example.com"). A
security.txt file can have an unlimited number of fields. It is
important to note that you need a separate line for every field. One
MUST NOT chain multiple values for a single directive. Everything
MUST be in a separate field.
A security.txt file only applies to the application it is located in.
2.1. Comments
Comments can be added using the # symbol:
<CODE BEGINS>
# This is a comment.
<CODE ENDS>
You MAY use one or more comments as descriptive text immediately
before the field. Parsers can then associate the comments with the
respective field.
2.2. Separate Fields
A separate line is required for every new value and field. You MUST
NOT chain everything in to a single field. Every line must end with
a line feed character (%x0A).
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2.3. Contact:
Add an address that researchers MAY use for reporting security
issues. The value can be an email address, a phone number and/or a
security page with more information. The "Contact:" directive MUST
always be present in a security.txt file.
<CODE BEGINS>
Contact: security@example.com
Contact: +1-201-555-0123
Contact: https://example.com/security
<CODE ENDS>
2.4. Encryption:
This directive allows you to add your key for encrypted
communication. You MUST NOT directly add your PGP key. The value
MUST be a link to a page which contains your key. Keys SHOULD be
loaded over HTTPS.
<CODE BEGINS>
Encryption: https://example.com/pgp-key.txt
<CODE ENDS>
2.5. Disclosure:
Specify your disclosure policy. This directive MUST be a disclosure
type. The "Full" value stands for full disclosure, "Partial" for
partial disclosure and "None" means you do not want to disclose
reports after the issue has been resolved. The presence of a
disclosure field is NOT permission to disclose vulnerabilities and
explicit permission MUST be saught where possible.
<CODE BEGINS>
Disclosure: Full
<CODE ENDS>
2.6. Acknowledgement:
This directive allows you to link to a page where security
researchers are recognized for their reports.
Acknowledgement: https://example.com/hall-of-fame.html
2.7. Example
<CODE BEGINS>
# Our security address
Contact: security@example.com
Encryption: https://example.com/pgp-key.txt
Disclosure: Full
<CODE ENDS>
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3. File Format Description
The expected file format of the security.txt file is plain text
encoded in UTF-8.
The following is an ABNF definition of the security.txt format, using
the conventions defined in [RFC5234].
body = *line (contact-field eol) *line
line = *1(field / comment) eol
eol = *WSP [CR] LF
field = contact-field /
encryption-field /
disclosure-field /
acknowledgement-field
fs = ":"
comment = "#" *(WSP / VCHAR / %xA0-E007F)
contact-field = "Contact" fs SP (email / uri / phone)
email = <Email address as per RFC 5322>
phone = "+" *1(DIGIT / "-" / "(" / ")" / SP)
uri = <URI as per RFC 3986>
encryption-field = "Encryption" fs SP uri
disclosure-field = "Disclosure" fs SP disclosure
disclosure = "Full" / "Partial" / "None"
acknowledgement-field = "Acknowledgement" fs SP uri
4. Security Considerations
Companies creating security.txt files will need to take several
security-related issues into consideration. These include exposure
of sensitive information and attacks where limited access to a server
could grant the ability to modify the contents of the security.txt
file or affect how it is served.
As stated in Section 2.4, keys specified using the "Encryption:"
directive SHOULD be loaded over HTTPS.
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5. IANA Considerations
example.com is used in this document following the uses indicated in
[RFC2606]
6. Contributors
The editor would like to acknowledge the help provided during the
development of this document by the following individuals:
Tom Hudson helped writing the "File Format Description" and wrote
several security.txt parsers.
Joel Margolis was a big help when it came to wording this document
appropriately.
Jobert Abma for raising issues and concerns that might arise when
using certain directives.
Gerben Janssen van Doorn for reviewing this document multiple times.
Justin Calmus was always there to answer questions related to writing
this document.
Casey Ellis had several ideas related to security.txt that helped
shape security.txt itself.
7. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC5234] Crocker, D. and P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", STD 68, RFC 5234, January 2008.
[RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66, RFC
3986, DOI 10.17487/RFC3986, January 2005,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3986>.
[RFC2606] Eastlake 3rd, D. and A. Panitz, "Reserved Top Level DNS
Names", BCP 32, RFC 2606, DOI 10.17487/RFC2606, June 1999,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2606>.
Author's Address
Edwin Foudil
Email: contact@edoverflow.com
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