doc(security,aot): added security guidance around AoT binaries#4867
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srberard wants to merge 4 commits intobytecodealliance:mainfrom
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doc(security,aot): added security guidance around AoT binaries#4867srberard wants to merge 4 commits intobytecodealliance:mainfrom
srberard wants to merge 4 commits intobytecodealliance:mainfrom
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Adds explicit guidance distinguishing trusted AoT binaries from untrusted Wasm binaries, clarifies that malformed/manipulated AoT files are bugs not security issues, and cleans up wording in the security checklist section. Signed-off-by: Stephen Berard <stephen.berard@outlook.com>
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Pull request overview
Updates the security guidance doc to clarify how to classify security issues vs bugs when dealing with untrusted Wasm inputs versus trusted AoT outputs, and to refine the reporting checklist language.
Changes:
- Adds explicit guidance distinguishing untrusted WebAssembly binaries from trusted, toolchain-produced AoT binaries.
- Clarifies when AoT-related crashes/sandbox breaches should be treated as security issues (toolchain emission) vs non-security bugs (malformed/manipulated AoT artifacts).
- Edits the “crash or hang” checklist section and removes a formatting artifact.
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lum1n0us
reviewed
Mar 9, 2026
doc/security_need_to_know.md
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| if a bug **results in crash or hang**, please treat it as a security problem and report it to a security advisor. The maintainer will look into it and change its category if needed. It is better safe than sorry. | ||
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| If the author of an issue(results in crash or hang) can go through the following checklist and answer all questions with "No", it is fine to mark it as a regular bug. If not, please report it as a security issue. | ||
| If the author of an issue(results in crash or hang) can go through the checklist below and answer all questions with "No", it is fine to mark it as a regular bug. If not, please report it as a security issue. |
Contributor
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The original idea here is to use an easily recognizable characteristic to let the author finish a quick initial triage. Maybe a better description would be:
- If an issue is a hang or crash, report it as a security issue.
- If an issue doesn't end up with a hang or crash, but allows any of the following questions to be answered as YES, report it as a security issue.
But is this too strict?
doc/security_need_to_know.md
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| If the author of an issue(results in crash or hang) can go through the following checklist and answer all questions with "No", it is fine to mark it as a regular bug. If not, please report it as a security issue. | ||
| If the author of an issue(results in crash or hang) can go through the checklist below and answer all questions with "No", it is fine to mark it as a regular bug. If not, please report it as a security issue. | ||
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| Does the |
Contributor
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maybe we can provide a list with WASM/WAMR-specific questions, such as escaping the sandbox, exposing unauthorized WASI APIs, and so on.
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Author
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Updated. I simplified and updated the question list.
Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
Signed-off-by: Stephen Berard <stephen.berard@outlook.com>
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Adds explicit guidance distinguishing trusted AoT binaries from untrusted Wasm binaries, clarifies that malformed/manipulated AoT files are bugs not security issues, and cleans up wording in the security checklist section.