docs: add hotfix release guide

CLI-231

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -295,6 +295,14 @@ If your release pipeline fails at any step, notify Hammerhead.
 
 You may see some "Docker Hub" checks on your merge commit fail. This is normal and safe to ignore.
 
+### Creating a stable hot-fix release
+
+* Create a new branch based on the latest stable release branch, using the convention: `hotfix/v1.234.5-uniq-string` or run `./release-scripts/create-hotfix-branch.sh`
+* Propose the fix into the hotfix candidate branch. This could be a cherry-pick, but because main may have diverged significantly, the fix might need to be rewritten for the hotfix branch.
+  * The contributor is responsible for proposing an appropriate patch.
+* Create a PR which targets the stable release branch
+* Merge hotfix branch into stable
+
 ## Snyk CLI Docker Images
 
 After the `release-npm` job successfully completes, an automated process generates the Docker images for Snyk CLI. These images are then published to DockerHub under the repository [`snyk/snyk`](https://hub.docker.com/r/snyk/snyk).

release-scripts/create-hot-fix.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# This script automates the process of creating a hotfix branch from the latest
+# tagged release, cherry-picking the necessary commits, and creating a pull
+
+RELEASE_BRANCH="main"
+CURRENT_TAG="$(git describe --tags `git rev-list --tags --max-count=1`)"
+
+# Create a new branch from the latest tag
+HOTFIX_BRANCH="hotfix/$CURRENT_TAG-$(date +%s)"
+git checkout -b $HOTFIX_BRANCH $CURRENT_TAG