Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:31:15 -0700
From: Paul Lesniewski <paul@...irrelmail.org>
To: Moritz Naumann <security@...itz-naumann.com>
Cc: full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk, bugtraq@...urityfocus.com,
	Daniel Kobayashi Imori <daniel@...tion.com.br>
Subject: Re: [SquirrelMail-Security] XSS in Squirrelmail
 plugin 'Virtual Keyboard' <= 0.9.1

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 8:19 PM, Moritz Naumann
<security@...itz-naumann.com> wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> On 16.10.2010 02:44 Paul Lesniewski wrote:
>> On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Moritz Naumann
>> <security@...itz-naumann.com> wrote:
>>> Squirrelmail plugin 'Virtual Keyboard' version 0.9.1 and lower is
>>> vulnerable to cross site scripting (XSS).
> [..]
>> As a member of the SquirrelMail development team, I am quite
>> displeased with this announcement.
>
> thanks for openly sharing your opinion on this matter.
>
> I guess I have to provide a complete timeline. 'Complete' here, means
> from my perspective, since I initially reported the vulnerability and
> thus have the responsibility of ensuring it get's published, in time, so
> that users are able to patch their vulnerable systems. That's also why
> the Full Disclosure Policy [1] requires a steady flow of communication
> and information in both directions. Unfortunately, in this case, it was
> somewhat one-sided.
>
> May 05, 2010: Moritz reports vulnerability to Daniel and
> security-2010@...irrelmail
>
> May 06, 2010: Daniel responds to Moritz and security-2010@...irrelmail,
> attaching a fixed version
>
> May 07, 2010: Moritz responds to Daniel and security-2010@...irrelmail,
> asking for source code repository or other public storage location
>
> May 07, 2010: Daniel responds to Moritz and security-2010@...irrelmail,
> reporting that his account on the squirrelmail.org plugin repository is
> disabled and he's trying to get in touch with the Squirrelmail
> developers on this
>
> May 07, 2010: Moritz responds to Daniel, stating that (after having
> reviewed the new version by Daniel) it should fix the previously
> reported vulnerability.
>
> May 10, 2010: Moritz responds to Daniel and security-2010@...irrelmail,
> trying to mediate between Daniel and the Squirrelmail developers, in the
> interest of getting the security fix out as soon as possible, and
> checking with Daniel whether it would be ok to distibute his update by
> other means in case his access to the repository cannot be restored in a
> timely fashion.
>
> May 10, 2010: Daniel responds to Moritz, giving permission to publish
> his work, stating he is awaiting a response by the Squirrelmail Team to
> get his plugin repository account reactivated.
>
> May 11, 2010: Paul of Squirrelmail responds to Moritz (for the first
> time) and Daniel, stating that the plugin is not conformant with current
> Squirrelmail standards, and that he (not the Squirrelmail team as a
> whole) will work with Daniel to get the code to release quality, asking
> Moritz for patience and  noting that he is "sure [Moritz] will be made
> aware of a release".
>
> May 29, 2010: Moritz contacts Daniel, Paul and
> security-2010@...irrelmail; not having heard from either Daniel or
> anyone from Suqirrelmail for a while, he asks for an update.
>
> May 31, 2010: Daniel responds to Moritz, stating that he is currently ill.
>
> June 01, 2010: Moritz responds to Daniel stating that he will delay the
> advisory for another week.
>
> June 02, 2010: Daniel responds to Moritz, Paul and
> security-2010@...irrelmail, attaching an improved fixed version
>
> June 07, 2010: Moritz responds to Daniel, Paul and
> security-2010@...irrelmail, suggesting that, "unless more changes need
> to happen, the Squirrelmail team could probably review and publish"
> Daniels new version in their plugin repository.
>
> Oct 05, 2010: Not having heard again from Squirrelmail team or Paul or
> Daniel on this matter, realizing that 5 months after the initial report
> there is still no security fix available, Moritz publishes an advisory,
> including Daniels' fix, in the interest of safeguarding the users of
> this plugin (and, yes, for the credit, too).
>
>
> While I think this timeline puts the handling of this vulnerability in a
> different light than your email, I am not going into the details since I

I have reviewed the former communications, and must state that I was
mistaken in that your emails were in fact addressed to the
SquirrelMail team via our security address.  My apologies for that.

However, as I stated early on to you, "Daniel and I will be working to
get the code up to date and release it as soon as possible."  I did/do
not believe you needed to be part of discussions that did not regard
the issue you reported.  At the time you last asked if the plugin
could be published, I was already waiting for Daniel to respond
regarding the changes I asked him to make.  I could have replied to
you that as far as I knew, we were still waiting, but your overly
impatient emails were quite insensitive toward we overworked and
unpaid FOSS developers, to which, for sanity's sake, an appropriate
response is none at all.  It's too bad Daniel wasn't able to reply,
either, but perhaps he had the same reaction.

Petty details and timelines aside, the point that IS relevant for
public consumption is that, after you waited four months and decided
that you'd unilaterally publish your report, you didn't bother to
contact the plugin author nor the SquirrelMail team AT ALL.  This is
inexcusable, and, having worked with other over-anxious reporters in
the past, I believe this is something others out there should learn
from.

> am not interested in extending this discussion - it simply serves no
> purpose. My primary interest was in making it possible to fix the
> vulnerable installations out there, and this advisory was a result of
> it. I would have preferred to see it better handled (and I'm not only
> addressing this to you, Paul), but this is not always possible.
>
> If you would like to discuss this further, you are welcome to do so, but
> please consider whether it is possible to do this off-list
> (I assume only few subscribers, if any, will not consider this
> off-topic). I have nothing to hide in this respect, but I also don't
> want to annoy people with a mostly - to the general audience of these
> mailing lists - irrelevant discussion.

I'm sorry if a public lashing doesn't seem like the nicest way to
handle such matters, and I do hope it does not cause resentment or any
other regretful emotion, but I think discussion of a proper and
considerate reporting process (which I sincerely believe should be
different when dealing with FOSS software, since many of us aren't
paid to do it full time) is quite relevant.

-- 
Paul Lesniewski
SquirrelMail Team
Please support Open Source Software by donating to SquirrelMail!
http://squirrelmail.org/donate_paul_lesniewski.php

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