Purpose

To provide the CNCF’s TOC with effective information about the security of different projects, this document outlines the procedure by which a project should be assessed during a TAG-Security Security Assessment (TSSA).

• Roles
• TSSA package steps
  • New projects
    1. Self-assessment
    2. Create issue
    3. Present
    4. Submit PR
  • Growing projects
    1. Create issue
    2. Draft joint assessment
    3. Reviewers assigned
    4. Conflict of interest
    5. Clarifying questions
    6. Assessment
    7. Presentation
    8. Final summary
    9. Survey
• Additional process notes

Roles

• project lead
• security reviewers

TSSA package steps

The TSSA package is developed over time as projects grow in maturity and advance through the CNCF. The below section breaks the creation of the package into steps that mirror the current TOC process stages.

New projects

New projects are projects generally defined as very early on in their maturity. They may have an innovators pool of users.

Note: Responsible roles for specific items are in bold

Complete a self-assessment

The self-assessment provides projects with the opportunity to examine the existing security provisions of the project. It can serve as their initial security documentation for users.

Create a presentation issue

This presentation should go over the self-assessment and provide TAG-Security with an initial understanding of the project. It is recommended the project lead submit the issue as the primary point of contact (POC).

Present the project and self-assessment

Be sure to add the presentation to proposed agenda topics in the meeting notes and include the POC or project lead. The community may provide feedback on the self-assessment or ask questions about the project. Include anything you feel important in an updated self-assessment based on feedback and discussion.

Submit a PR to include the self-assessment in the repo

After the presentation, the project lead or their designee should submit a PR, citing the presentation issue number to add the self-assessment to assessments/projects under its own folder. The ticket may then be closed after merged in.

Growing projects

Growing projects are likely to have early adopters, having gone beyond innovators as their sole user base.

Note: Responsible roles for specific items are in bold. If an incubation project did not complete a self-assessment during sandbox, they are recommended to start with the self-assessment before pursing joint assessment.

Create tracking issue

The tracking issue serves to initiate the joint-assessments. It provides an initial set of information to assist TAG-Security in prioritizing the joint assessment as well as provide potential reviewers with a central location to manage the effort.

• Issue may be a request from TOC liaison or project itself
• Security Assessment Facilitator with help from the technical leads and co-chairs if appropriate, will determine if the project is ready for joint-assessment. If ready, a channel will be created to coordinate the activities.

Project leverages self-assessment to draft joint assessment

The project uses the self-assessment created from the sandbox phase to draft the joint assessment. The joint assessment expands upon content of the self-assessment and provides the reviewers with a central starting point in assessing the current security stature of the project.

Project provides the joint assessment and reviewers are assigned

The project provides the reviewers with security relevant information about their project. The joint assessment can include links to external documents and sources within the project’s repository or website to provide additional details or reference where a process is kept.

• Project lead responds to the issue with draft document (see joint assessment)
• Issue assigned to lead security reviewer who will recruit at least one additional reviewer, if one is not already assigned, and facilitate the process.

Conflict of interest statement and review

In order to remediate unfair advantage or ethical issues all reviewers are required to provide a statement indicating all hard and soft conflicts they maintain prior starting the security review.

• Lead security reviewer and additional security reviewers comment any conflict of interest in the project’s assessment ticket using the below format:

• The lead security reviewer will confirm all conflicts are specified and escalate any conflict concerns, hard conflicts or multiple soft conflicts, to the Security Assessment Facilitator for concurrence to proceed or if a reviewer is ineligible to participate. Specific instructions are found on the security reviewer page.

Clarifying questions phase

The clarifying questions phase is the responsibility of the Lead security reviewer to ensure it is complete. They may delegate this task to another reviewer. This phase enables security reviewers to focus on the security and technical details of the project. The clarifying question phase is conducted prior to the 3 week time frame for a TSSA.

• Lead security reviewer or their designee will perform an initial, clarifying assessment to:
  • Verify completeness
  • Ask for clarifications
  • Ensure terms are defined
  • Ensure concepts introduced are explained with context
  • Provide quick feedback

Security assessment with optional hands-on assessment

The TSSA process provides time for the security reviewers and the project to address security and technical details associated with the project. Information created or received out of the assessment is leveraged in finalizing the joint assessment and creating the project’s TSSA package in the README file.

If the security reviewers include individuals capable of performing a hands-on assessment, the hands-on assessment is included in this step.

• Project posts their document to the project security assessment channel, allowing at least one week for review prior to Q&A
• Security reviewers review the joint-assessment document, links, and other materials provided by the project and provide comments and questions
  • It is highly recommended that security reviewers familiarize themselves with the project’s repo and docs if available
• Security reviewers and project lead/POCs ensure all reviewer questions, comments, and feedback are addressed and finalize the joint assessment
• Lead security reviewer or their designee, with the assistance of the security reviewers create a draft summary document to capture existing comments, feedback, and recommendations prior to the presentation.

Presentation

The presentation is designed to inform members of TAG Security of the project, its intent, what it accomplishes, and provides the opportunity for additional questions and feedback to the reviewers and project.

• Project lead presents to TAG during TAG meeting
• Presentation is recorded as part of standard TAG process
• Presentation slides are linked in the /assessments/projects/project-name/

Final summary

The final summary provides a cursory assessment of the project, background, summary of the joint assessment, and recommendations to the CNCF, the project, and other recommendations of note. The final summary should also list the version or release the joint assessment covered to better enable tracking for updates of the TSSA package.

• Lead security reviewer creates a branch labeled WIP and provides branch information to additional reviewers.
• Lead security reviewer places the summary into branch for finalization
• Reviewers either comment or provide changes (feedback and recommendations) to the branch given and submit PR
• Either project lead or reviewers may request further WG discussion
• Project lead prepares a PR to /assessments/projects/project-name/ when all comments, feedback, and recommendations are incorporated for the joint assessment and presentation slides.
• PR approval of at least 1 co-chair, alongside other reviewers’ approvals, is required before merging any artifacts.

Post-assessment survey

The should be completed by the reviewers, project lead, and other members of the TSSA. Once complete the survey may be shared directly to the Security Assessment Facilitator, technical leads, and co-chairs or be part of the PR into the /assessments/projects/project-name folder.

Additional Process Notes

Iteration is expected; however, we expect quick turnaround (at most a week). In rare cases unrelated issues can unexpectedly interrupt the process and it may be appropriate to address specific concerns rather than continuing with the TSSA. We encourage open communication between project lead and security reviewers:

• At any time, the project lead may request additional time to respond to feedback from security reviewers
• Project lead or lead security reviewer may pause the process where a delay of over a week cannot be accommodated by the review team. Simply close the GitHub issue with a note to TAG co-chairs.