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security.txt

Publish date 04/06/2023

security.txt is a File Format that can be set on websites, so when security vulnerabilities are discovered by researchers, proper reporting channels can be used.

This file is a machine-parsable format to help organizations describe their vulnerability disclosure practices to make it easier for researchers to report vulnerabilities in a secure way.

The file is stored in domain.com/.well-known/security.txt

here is an example from google:

Contact: https://g.co/vulnz Contact: mailto:security@google.com Encryption: https://services.google.com/corporate/publickey.txt Acknowledgements: https://bughunters.google.com/ Policy: https://g.co/vrp Hiring: https://g.co/SecurityPrivacyEngJobs Expires: 2023-12-31T18:37:07z

2 fields are mandatory : Contact: this can be a email-address, a website url or a telephone number. Several contacts-field are allowed. Expires: the date and time after which the data contained in the security.txt file is considered out of date and should no longer be used. It is recommended that this date is less than a year.

The optional but strongly recommended field Encryption, contains the URL to a file that contains the public-key (of an OpenPGP key)

More info in the RFC: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc9116

 

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