User Guide

Bugfix Policy

The following section describes how and when we resolve security bugs in our products.

Security Bug Fix Service Level Objectives (SLO)

NetEye sets service level objectives for fixing security vulnerabilities based on the security severity level and the affected package. The following timeframes for fixing security issues in our product have been defined:

Standard Resolution Timeframe

The following resolution timeframes are respected should a security vulnerability be discovered within NetEye:

  • Critical, High severity bugs in product to be fixed within 90 days of being verified

  • Medium, Low severity bugs to be fixed in product within 180 days of being verified

Critical Vulnerabilities

When a Critical security vulnerability is discovered by a third party or Würth Phoenix itself, the latter will release a fix for the current version of the product:

For example: If a bug is discovered in 4.29 (current version) and the fix is ​​released 90 days later (current version after 90 days: 4.30) only 4.30 will be fixed.

Note

The bugfixes are not backported to versions prior to the one where the bug was fixed. This is why it is important to stay on the latest release for the version of the product you are using (this is best practice).

Non-critical vulnerabilities

When a security issue of a High, Medium or Low severity level is discovered, NetEye will aim to release a fix within the service level objectives listed in Standard Resolution Timeframe.

You should upgrade your installations when a bug fix release becomes available to ensure that the latest security fixes have been applied.

Severity Levels

NetEye uses Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) as a method of assessing security risk and prioritization for each discovered vulnerability. CVSS is an industry standard vulnerability metric. You can learn more about CVSS at FIRST.org.

NetEye security advisories include a severity level. It is based on our self-calculated CVSS score for each specific vulnerability.

  • Critical

  • High

  • Medium

  • Low

For CVSS v3 WuerthPhoenix uses the following severity rating system:

CVSS V3 Score Range

Severity in Advisory

9.0 - 10.0

Critical

7.0 - 8.9

High

4.0 - 6.9

Medium

0.1 - 3.9

Low

In some cases, NetEye may use additional factors unrelated to CVSS score to determine the severity level of a vulnerability. This approach is supported by the CVSS v3.1. Should this approach be taken, NetEye will describe which additional factors have been considered and why upon publicly disclosing the vulnerability.

Below are a few examples of vulnerabilities which may result in a given severity level. Please keep in mind that this rating does not take into account details of your installation and are to be treated purely for a guide purpose.

Severity Level: Critical

Vulnerabilities that score in the critical range usually have most of the following characteristics:

  • Exploitation of the vulnerability likely results in root-level compromise of servers or infrastructure devices.

  • Exploitation is usually straightforward, in the sense that the attacker does not need any special authentication credentials or knowledge about individual victims, and does not need to persuade a target user, for example via social engineering, into performing any special functions.

For critical vulnerabilities it is recommended that you patch or upgrade as soon as possible, unless you have other mitigating measures in place. For example, prohibiting access to your installation from the Internet can serve as a mitigating factor.

Severity Level: High

Vulnerabilities that score in the high range usually have some of the following characteristics:

  • The vulnerability is difficult to exploit.

  • Exploitation could result in elevated privileges.

  • Exploitation could result in a significant data loss or downtime.

Severity Level: Medium

Vulnerabilities that score in the medium range usually have some of the following characteristics:

  • Vulnerabilities that require the attacker to manipulate individual victims via social engineering tactics.

  • Denial of service vulnerabilities that are difficult to set up.

  • Exploits that require an attacker to reside on the same local network as the victim.

  • Vulnerabilities where exploitation provides only very limited access.

  • Vulnerabilities that require user privileges for successful exploitation.

Severity Level: Low

Vulnerabilities in the low range typically have very little impact on an organization’s business. Exploitation of such vulnerabilities usually requires local or physical system access. Vulnerabilities in third party code that are unreachable from NetEye code may be downgraded to low severity.

Operating System

In NetEye we rely on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (RHEL 8) as an OS. This means that in terms of RedHat Lifecycle policy all OS packages will receive security updates and bug fixes.

Open Source Stack

There are a number of third-party software integrated within NetEye, which function in accordance with their own licenses and bug-fixing policies.

We actively cooperate with all third parties in order to fix vulnerabilities for the convenience of our customers. On top of that, Wuerth Phoenix is always aiming to detect vulnerabilities and report them to the software producers in order for them to process according to their own security policies.