# Security Policy
## Supported Versions
We actively support the following versions of Cynapse with security updates:
| 0.1.x | :white_check_mark: |
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## Reporting a Vulnerability
**Please do not file public GitHub/GitLab issues for security vulnerabilities.**
We take security seriously and appreciate responsible disclosure. If you discover a security vulnerability in Cynapse, please report it privately:
### Reporting Process
1. **Email:** Send details to `security@tonmoyinfrastructure.dev` (or the maintainer's security contact)
2. **PGP:** Use our PGP key for sensitive reports (key ID: TBD)
3. **Include:**
- Description of the vulnerability
- Steps to reproduce
- Potential impact
- Suggested fix (if available)
- Your contact information
### Response Timeline
- **Initial Response:** Within 48 hours
- **Triage:** Within 1 week
- **Fix:** Depends on severity (critical issues prioritized)
- **Disclosure:** Coordinated disclosure after fix is released
### Security Update Process
1. Vulnerability is confirmed and assessed
2. Fix is developed and tested
3. Security advisory is drafted
4. Patch release is published
5. Security advisory is published publicly
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## Security Considerations
### Threat Model
Cynapse is designed to detect and mitigate:
- **In-memory code injection** (shellcode, DLL injection)
- **Runtime code patching** (inline hooks, IAT/GOT modifications)
- **ROP chain construction** in executable memory
- **Unauthorized executable mappings**
### Out of Scope
Cynapse does **not** protect against:
- **Data-only attacks** (e.g., return address corruption without code modification)
- **Timing attacks or side channels**
- **Physical memory access** (DMA attacks)
- **Kernel-level attacks** (rootkits, kernel module injection)
- **Debug interfaces** when explicitly enabled
- **Memory scraping** (Cynapse monitors integrity, not confidentiality)
### Known Limitations
1. **Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use (TOCTOU):**
- There's a window between verification checks where tampering could occur
- Mitigation: Reduce sampling interval, enable adaptive sampling
2. **Performance Overhead:**
- Monitoring incurs CPU overhead (typically < 5%)
- Mitigation: Tune sampling frequency based on security requirements
3. **JIT Compiler Support:**
- JIT-compiled code must be explicitly whitelisted
- False positives possible if whitelist is too broad
4. **Privileged Attackers:**
- Attackers with kernel/root access can disable or bypass Cynapse
- Mitigation: Combine with kernel-level protections, TPM attestation
5. **Memory Pressure:**
- Under extreme memory pressure, monitoring may be throttled
- Baseline hashes consume memory (typically < 10 MB per GB of code)
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## Best Practices
### Deployment
1. **Enable Adaptive Sampling:** Reduces overhead while maintaining security
2. **Configure Appropriate Intervals:** Balance security needs with performance
3. **Whitelist Known JIT Regions:** Prevent false positives from legitimate self-modifying code
4. **Enable Forensics in Production:** Capture evidence for incident response
5. **Test Thoroughly:** Validate in staging before production deployment
### Integration
1. **Combine with Other Defenses:**
- Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR)
- Control Flow Integrity (CFI)
- Data Execution Prevention (DEP/NX)
- Stack canaries and other hardening features
2. **Monitor Cynapse Alerts:**
- Integrate with SIEM or logging infrastructure
- Establish incident response procedures
- Regularly review false positive patterns
3. **Keep Updated:**
- Subscribe to security advisories
- Update to latest stable version
- Review changelog for security fixes
### Development
1. **Minimize Unsafe Code:**
- All unsafe blocks are documented with safety invariants
- Regular audits with Miri and other sanitizers
2. **Input Validation:**
- Configuration parameters are validated
- Memory addresses are bounds-checked where possible
3. **Error Handling:**
- Fail securely (e.g., deny on error)
- Log security-relevant events
- Avoid exposing sensitive information in error messages
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## Security Features
### Current (v0.1)
- ✅ Cross-platform memory integrity monitoring
- ✅ Merkle tree-based hierarchical verification
- ✅ Configurable tamper response strategies
- ✅ Forensic snapshot capabilities
- ✅ JIT/self-modifying code whitelisting
- ✅ Adaptive sampling to reduce overhead
- ✅ Signal/exception interception
### Planned (Future Versions)
- 🔄 Hardware TEE integration (Intel SGX, ARM TrustZone)
- 🔄 Kernel-level monitoring (eBPF on Linux)
- 🔄 Remote attestation with distributed consensus
- 🔄 ML-based anomaly detection
- 🔄 Post-quantum cryptographic hashing
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## Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
### Our Commitments
- We will acknowledge receipt of your report within 48 hours
- We will provide regular updates on our progress
- We will credit you (unless you prefer anonymity) in security advisories
- We will not take legal action against researchers acting in good faith
### Researcher Guidelines
- Act in good faith; avoid privacy violations and service disruption
- Provide sufficient detail to reproduce the vulnerability
- Allow reasonable time for fixes before public disclosure
- Do not exploit vulnerabilities beyond proof-of-concept
### Coordinated Disclosure
We follow a 90-day coordinated disclosure policy:
1. **Day 0:** Vulnerability reported privately
2. **Day 1-7:** Triage and validation
3. **Day 7-60:** Develop and test fix
4. **Day 60-75:** Release patch
5. **Day 75-90:** Public disclosure
Critical vulnerabilities may have accelerated timelines.
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## Security Audit History
| TBD | Internal | Initial code review | TBD | Planned |
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## Security Acknowledgments
We thank the following researchers for responsible disclosure:
- *No reports yet*
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## Contact
For security-related inquiries:
- **Email:** security@tonmoyinfrastructure.dev
- **PGP Key:** TBD
- **Response Time:** Within 48 hours
For general questions, use the issue tracker or discussions.
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## Legal
This security policy does not constitute a bug bounty program. We appreciate responsible disclosure but do not offer financial rewards at this time.
**Last Updated:** 2024-10-16