Security Advisory Triage

Security Advisory Triage

Worked example: three advisories (GHSA-pmmx-m8p5-969j, GHSA-4hqm-8v2c-9pwj, GHSA-p3f2-88rg-9mch) went through this exact flow on 2026-08-15.

1. Check if it applies

Don't assume a reported advisory still reproduces — verify against the current code before doing anything else:

gh api repos/appneta/tcpreplay/security-advisories/<GHSA-id>

Read the description for the exact file/function/line cited, then check that code as it exists now (Read, not memory). A vulnerable-version range like <= 4.5.1 doesn't mean it's still broken on master — confirm the specific bug is still there before treating it as real work.

2. Decide: fix in the open, or fix privately first

• DoS-only, memory leak, or anything not exploitable beyond a crash: fix in the open, same as a normal bug — branch, PR, merge.
• Memory corruption reachable by attacker-controlled input (heap/stack overflow, UAF, OOB write): this needs private handling before anything public. On the advisory page, the maintainer clicks Accept and open as draft security advisory — this is a UI action, not something to attempt via API (there's no reliable "accept" endpoint, and getting it wrong risks not actually keeping the fix private). Ask the user to click it and hand you the resulting private fork's URL.
• Once a private fork exists: clone it, branch, fix, verify (ideally reproduce the PoC before/after — see below), push and open a PR within the private fork, not the public repo. Only cherry-pick the fix commit onto the public release branch after the user says the private fork PR is merged.

3. Verify the fix actually works

Reproduce the reported crash before the fix and confirm it's gone after, where the advisory includes a PoC. This caught real details worth putting in the PR description (e.g. the radiotap fix's exact byte-overflow amount matched the advisory's own numbers once verified). Don't just trust that the code change "looks right" — these are exploitability claims, worth the extra few minutes.

4. Publishing the advisory

Once the fix is merged (public or cherry-picked from private), the advisory record itself still needs three things set, in this order:

1. patched_versions — set to the version this ships in, even if unreleased/untagged yet:

   gh api repos/.../security-advisories/<id> -X PATCH --input payload.json
   

   (PATCH needs the full vulnerabilities[] array reposted with ecosystem: "other" for a C project — GitHub's ecosystem enum doesn't have a "c" option, even though a resolved advisory may display one.)

2. CVE request — ask the user; don't assume. Severity matters here: higher-CVSS/RCE-potential findings usually warrant one, lower-severity DoS findings are more of a judgment call. If the user doesn't answer or dismisses the question, proceed without requesting one rather than blocking — it can be requested later:

   gh api repos/.../security-advisories/<id>/cve -X POST
   

3. Publish:

   gh api repos/.../security-advisories/<id> -X PATCH -f state=published
   

   This works directly from triage state — no need to route through draft first for advisories that were never accepted into a private fork.

5. Credit

Add the reporter to docs/CREDIT, grouped by person if they filed more than one advisory. Match the file's existing format (name, GitHub handle, bullet list of what they found with GHSA links).