If you have found a security vulnerability in Exiv2, please follow these steps:

• Send an email to our security contact person: Kevin Backhouse (kevinbackhouse@github.com).
• We will create a draft security advisory and invite you as a collaborator.
• Add a comment to the draft security advisory with a detailed description of the vulnerability. (Please don't use the "Description" field, because we'll use the "Description" field to write a short summary later.)
• Include all of the following details in your description of the vulnerability:
  • Exact version of Exiv2 that you tested. For example: commit 194bb65ac568a5435874c9d9d73b1c8a68e4edec
  • Platform used. For example: Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS (x86_64)
  • Exact command used to build Exiv2. For example: mkdir build; cd build; cmake ..; make
  • Attach a copy of the image file that triggers the bug. For example: poc.jpg
  • Exact command line arguments that trigger the bug. For example: ./bin/exiv2 poc.jpg
  • Crash output (stdout + stderr).
  • The source location of the bug and/or any other information that you are able to provide about what the cause of the bug is.

The draft security advisory is private until we publish it, so it is a good place to discuss the details of the vulnerability privately. For the initial email, just a summary of the issue is sufficient.

To qualify as a security issue, the bug must be reproducible on an official release of Exiv2. Official releases are listed here (not including those labeled "pre-release"). Bugs that are only reproducible on the main branch or on a pre-release are not security issues and can be reported as regular issues.

Team Exiv2 does not back-port security (or any other fix) to earlier releases of the code. An engineer at SUSE has patched and fixed some security releases for Exiv2 v0.26 and Exiv2 v0.25 in branches 0.26 and 0.25. Exiv2 has provided several Dot Release for v0.27. Exiv2 has never issued a Security Release.

The version numbering scheme is explained below. The design includes provision for a security release. A Dot Release is an updated version of the library with security PRs and other changes. A Dot Release offers the same API as its parent. A Security Release is an existing release PLUS one or more security PRs. Nothing else is changed from it parent.

Users can register on GitHub.com to receive release notices for RC and GM Releases. Additionally, we inform users when we begin a project to create a new release on FaceBook (https://facebook.com/exiv2) and Discuss Pixls (https://discuss.pixls.us). The announcement of a new release project has a preliminay specification and schedule.