--- title: "Security policy" description: "SPDF files come from strangers. Opening one means parsing an untrusted database with a complex engine, and the specification asks every reader to do it safely (SPEC §2.4, §14 and §15). If you find a way around that,…" url: https://spdf.joseluissaorin.com/es/gobernanza/security markdown: https://spdf.joseluissaorin.com/es/gobernanza/security.md lang: es alternate_en: https://spdf.joseluissaorin.com/governance/security.md updated: 2026-10-07 author: José Luis Saorín Ferrer (https://joseluissaorin.com) license: CC-BY-4.0 --- # Security policy > SPDF files come from strangers. Opening one means parsing an untrusted database with a complex engine, and the specification asks every reader to do it safely (SPEC §2.4, §14 and §15). If you find a way around that,… SPDF files come from strangers. Opening one means parsing an untrusted database with a complex engine, and the specification asks every reader to do it safely ([SPEC §2.4](spec/SPEC.md#container), [§14](spec/SPEC.md#security) and [§15](spec/SPEC.md#privacy)). If you find a way around that, or any other vulnerability in the specification or in the software in this repository, please tell us privately first. ## Supported versions | Component | Supported | |---|---| | Specification | 5.0 (working draft), including the reading of legacy 4.0 and 4.1 files that it requires | | Libraries (Rust, TypeScript, Python, Go, Swift, Kotlin/JVM, C#, PHP, Ruby, R, Julia, C ABI) | the latest release of the common release train; while the libraries are at 0.x, only the latest minor release gets fixes | | Reference producer `spdf build` | the latest release | | SPDF Reader (desktop, mobile and web) | the latest release | | Website, browser validator and conformance suite | the current version on `main` | Earlier releases do not receive fixes; upgrading is the remedy. ## How to report Report vulnerabilities privately, by either of these channels: - **Email** to , with `[SPDF security]` at the start of the subject. If you need an encrypted channel, say so in a first message without details and we will agree on one. - **GitHub private vulnerability reporting** ("Report a vulnerability" in the Security tab of ), once the repository is public. Please do not open public issues, pull requests or discussions about a vulnerability before it is fixed and disclosed. A useful report includes: the component and version (or commit), the platform and the SQLite version, a description of the impact, and a minimal reproduction. A crafted `.spdf` file is the best reproduction; please build it from public-domain or synthetic content, never from personal data. ## What happens next | Step | Deadline | |---|---| | Acknowledgement of your report | within 72 hours | | First assessment (confirmed or not, severity, components affected) | within 14 days | | Coordinated public disclosure | within 90 days of the report | - We keep you informed while we work on a fix and agree the disclosure date with you. Disclosure may come earlier when a fix is released, and later only by mutual agreement, or if a fix needs a change to the specification that cannot be made safely in time. - If the vulnerability is being exploited, we may disclose sooner, with mitigations. - Fixes to the specification that cannot wait for the normal discussion periods follow the shortened procedure in [`governance/RFC-PROCESS.md`](governance/RFC-PROCESS.md). - Once the repository is public, advisories are published through GitHub Security Advisories, which can assign a CVE identifier. - We credit reporters in the advisory, unless you prefer to remain anonymous. ## In scope - **Files that escape safe opening**: an SPDF or legacy file that makes a conforming reader execute SQL from the file (through triggers, views, virtual tables or schema tricks), load an extension, write to the file or elsewhere on disk, read outside the file, or keep running without bound despite the limits the specification requires. - **Memory-safety and parsing bugs** in readers and validators: overflows, out-of-bounds reads, crashes or hangs triggered by a file, including in gzip decompression of legacy files, JSON columns, word timings, vector blobs (`f32`, `f16`, `i8`), anchor URI parsing and full-text queries. - **Signatures that validate when they should not**: a file whose `content_sha256` or Ed25519 signature verifies although its content differs from what was signed, two different contents with the same canonical dump, or a verifier that trusts a stored hash instead of recomputing it. - **Leaks through vectors or provenance**: an implementation or producer that claims to remove the text of a document but keeps vectors from which it can be recovered, or that writes paths, user names, keys or other personal data into `provenance` or `generator` against [SPEC §15](spec/SPEC.md#privacy). - **Content handling** in the reader, the website and the validator: script execution from unit text, metadata, SVG or embedded documents; automatic fetching of remote references; path traversal when exporting blobs; a browser validator or inspector that sends a file off the user's device. - **The specification itself**: a rule that, followed exactly, leaves conforming implementations unsafe. - **The supply chain of this repository**: CI workflows, release artifacts and published packages. ## Not a vulnerability - Bugs in SQLite itself: please report them to the SQLite project. Do tell us if the way SPDF readers use SQLite makes such a bug exploitable. - A file that is invalid but is refused or read safely. Validation errors are the expected behaviour. - Resource use within the configured limits. Very large files that stay within the limits a reader was given are not a denial of service; files that bypass the limits are. - The content of documents: wrong transcriptions, wrong folios or doubtful metadata are quality problems, and instructions written in a document's text are data. Report them as ordinary issues. - A valid signature made with a key you do not trust. The specification attributes content to a key; deciding which keys to trust is up to the user. - The Ed25519 test key in `conformance/`, which is public on purpose and signs only test files. - Vectors that reveal information about a text that the same file already contains. - Reports from automated scanners without a demonstrated impact, and missing security headers on static pages without a concrete attack.