Security Incident Response Plan

Executive Summary

This document establishes the Security Incident Response Plan for the Review Bot Automator project. It provides procedures for detecting, responding to, and recovering from security incidents, ensuring consistent and effective handling of security events.

Purpose: Define processes, roles, and procedures for managing security incidents from detection through resolution and lessons learned.

Scope: Covers all security incidents affecting the Review Bot Automator project, including:

  • Code vulnerabilities and exploits

  • Dependency compromises

  • Data breaches and leaks

  • System compromises

  • Supply chain attacks

Last Updated: 2025-11-03 Next Review: Semi-annually or after major incidents

Incident Classification

Severity Levels

CRITICAL (P0)

Response Time: Immediate (< 1 hour) Resolution Time: 24-72 hours

Examples

  • Remote code execution vulnerability actively exploited

  • Complete system compromise

  • Mass data breach

  • Supply chain attack affecting production users

  • Credential theft with evidence of unauthorized access

Escalation: Immediate notification to security team, maintainers, and stakeholders

HIGH (P1)

Response Time: < 4 hours Resolution Time: 1 week

Examples: (Critical Severity)

  • Path traversal vulnerability discovered

  • Secrets leaked in public repository

  • Dependency with critical CVE

  • Unauthorized access to CI/CD pipeline

  • Code injection vulnerability

Escalation: Notify security team and maintainers within 1 hour

MEDIUM (P2)

Response Time: < 1 business day Resolution Time: 2 weeks

Examples: (High Severity)

  • Information disclosure vulnerabilities

  • Dependency with high-severity CVE

  • Security misconfiguration

  • Denial of service vulnerability

  • Authentication bypass

Escalation: Notify security team and schedule fix

LOW (P3)

Response Time: < 1 week Resolution Time: 1 month

Examples: (Medium Severity)

  • Minor information disclosure

  • Low-severity CVEs

  • Security best practice violations

  • Non-critical misconfigurations

Escalation: Track in issue tracker, schedule for next release

Incident Response Phases

Phase 1: Detection and Reporting

Detection Methods

  1. Automated Detection

    • CodeQL Analysis: Scans for security vulnerabilities in code (.github/workflows/security.yml)

    • Trivy SBOM Scanning: Detects vulnerabilities in dependencies

    • TruffleHog: Scans for accidentally committed secrets

    • Scorecard: Evaluates security best practices

    • ClusterFuzzLite: Detects crashes, memory issues, and edge cases

    • pip-audit: Identifies known vulnerabilities in Python dependencies

    • Bandit: Static analysis for Python security issues

  2. Manual Detection

    • Code review findings

    • Security researcher reports

    • User reports via GitHub issues

    • Internal security audits

  3. External Notifications

    • GitHub Security Advisories

    • CVE alerts from dependencies

    • Security mailing lists

    • Disclosure from security researchers

Reporting Channels

Private Disclosure (Preferred)

  • GitHub Security tab → “Report a vulnerability”

  • Creates private security advisory

  • Allows for coordinated disclosure

Email: bdc@virtualagentics.ai

  • Use for sensitive disclosures

  • Include detailed reproduction steps

  • Expect acknowledgment within 48 hours

GitHub Issues: For non-critical issues

  • Use “security” label

  • Do NOT include sensitive details

  • Public visibility

Contacts

Phase 2: Triage and Assessment

Initial Assessment (< 1 hour for CRITICAL)

Step 1: Acknowledge Receipt

  • Confirm receipt to reporter within documented SLA

  • Assign incident ID (format: SEC-YYYY-NNNN)

  • Create private tracking issue (GitHub Security Advisory)

Step 2: Validate Vulnerability

  • Attempt to reproduce the issue

  • Verify exploitability

  • Assess actual vs theoretical impact

  • Document reproduction steps

Step 3: Assign Severity

Use CVSS v3.1 scoring (https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.1):

  • CRITICAL: CVSS 9.0-10.0

  • HIGH: CVSS 7.0-8.9

  • MEDIUM: CVSS 4.0-6.9

  • LOW: CVSS 0.1-3.9

Step 4: Determine Impact Scope

  • Affected versions

  • Number of users potentially impacted

  • Data at risk

  • Attack complexity

  • Prerequisites for exploitation

Assessment Template

## Incident: SEC-2025-NNNN

**Severity**: [CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW]
**CVSS Score**: [0.0-10.0]
**Reported By**: [Name/Anonymous]
**Reported Date**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC
**Acknowledged**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC

### Description
[Brief description]

### Affected Components
* Component: [name]
* Versions: [x.y.z - a.b.c]
* File(s): [file paths]

### Impact
* Confidentiality: [NONE/LOW/HIGH]
* Integrity: [NONE/LOW/HIGH]
* Availability: [NONE/LOW/HIGH]

### Exploit Complexity
* Prerequisites: [list]
* Attack Vector: [NETWORK/ADJACENT/LOCAL]
* User Interaction: [NONE/REQUIRED]

### Reproduction Steps
1. [Step 1]
2. [Step 2]
...

### Evidence
[Screenshots, logs, PoC code]

Phase 3: Containment

Immediate Actions (CRITICAL/HIGH)

Step 1: Stop the Bleeding

  • If exploit is active, consider emergency actions:

    • Disable affected features via configuration

    • Roll back to safe version

    • Block malicious traffic (if applicable)

    • Revoke compromised credentials

Step 2: Prevent Spread

  • Identify all affected systems

  • Isolate compromised components

  • Prevent further exploitation

  • Monitor for additional indicators of compromise

Step 3: Preserve Evidence

  • Capture system state

  • Save logs and artifacts

  • Document timeline

  • DO NOT destroy evidence during containment

Containment Strategies by Threat Type

Code Vulnerability

  1. Create hotfix branch

  2. Develop and test fix

  3. Prepare advisory and patch

  4. Coordinate disclosure timeline

Dependency Compromise

  1. Pin to last known-good version

  2. Assess impact of vulnerable component

  3. Search for alternative dependencies

  4. Test with pinned version

Secret Leakage

  1. IMMEDIATELY revoke exposed credentials

  2. Rotate all potentially affected secrets

  3. Audit access logs for unauthorized use

  4. Remove secrets from git history (git filter-branch)

  5. Force push cleaned history (coordination required)

CI/CD Compromise

  1. Disable affected workflows

  2. Review recent workflow runs

  3. Audit workflow permissions

  4. Rotate all GitHub Actions secrets

  5. Review recent commits for malicious changes

Phase 4: Eradication

Root Cause Analysis

Questions to Answer

  1. What was the vulnerability?

  2. How long has it existed?

  3. What allowed it to exist?

  4. Were there any previous indicators?

  5. Could it have been prevented?

Analysis Methods

  • Code review of vulnerable component

  • Git history analysis (git log --all -- <file>)

  • Dependency tree analysis

  • Timeline reconstruction

  • Impact assessment

Fix Development

Development Process

  1. Create hotfix branch from affected version

  2. Develop minimal fix (avoid scope creep)

  3. Add regression tests

  4. Add security test cases

  5. Test fix thoroughly

  6. Code review by at least 2 maintainers

  7. Security team approval

Fix Validation

  • Vulnerability no longer exploitable

  • No new regressions introduced

  • Tests pass (unit, integration, security)

  • Fuzzing passes (if applicable)

  • Code review approved

  • Security team approval

Patch Strategy

  • Backport to all supported versions (currently 0.1.x)

  • Create separate fix branches per major version

  • Test each backport independently

  • Prepare release notes (without sensitive details)

Phase 5: Recovery

Deployment

CRITICAL/HIGH Severity

  1. Prepare emergency release

  2. Notify users via:

    • GitHub Security Advisory

    • Release notes

    • Email to known users (if applicable)

    • Security mailing lists

  3. Publish patched versions to PyPI

  4. Update documentation

  5. Monitor for issues post-deployment

MEDIUM/LOW Severity

  1. Include fix in next regular release

  2. Document in changelog

  3. Mention in release notes

  4. No emergency notification required

Post-Deployment Monitoring

Monitoring Period: 7 days for CRITICAL, 3 days for HIGH

What to Monitor

  • Error rates

  • Unexpected behavior reports

  • Performance metrics

  • Security scan results

  • User feedback

Success Criteria

  • No new exploitation attempts detected

  • No regression issues reported

  • Security scans clear

  • User adoption of patched version increasing

Phase 6: Post-Incident Review

Lessons Learned Meeting

Timing: Within 7 days of incident resolution

Participants

  • Security team

  • Incident responders

  • Relevant maintainers

  • (Optional) Security researcher who reported

Agenda

  1. Incident timeline review

  2. What went well?

  3. What could be improved?

  4. Root cause analysis

  5. Preventive measures

  6. Action items

Post-Incident Report Template

## Post-Incident Report: SEC-2025-NNNN

**Incident Summary**: [Brief description]
**Severity**: [CRITICAL/HIGH/MEDIUM/LOW]
**Duration**: Detection to Resolution (X days)

### Timeline
* **Detection**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC
* **Triage**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC
* **Containment**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC
* **Fix Deployed**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC
* **Incident Closed**: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM UTC

### Root Cause
[Detailed explanation]

### Impact
* **Users Affected**: [number/percentage]
* **Data Compromised**: [YES/NO - details]
* **System Compromise**: [YES/NO - details]

### Response Effectiveness
#### What Went Well
* [Point 1]
* [Point 2]

#### What Could Be Improved
* [Point 1]
* [Point 2]

### Preventive Measures
1. [Action item 1] - Assigned to: [name] - Due: [date]
2. [Action item 2] - Assigned to: [name] - Due: [date]

### Recommendations
* [Long-term improvement 1]
* [Long-term improvement 2]

Knowledge Base Update

Documentation to Update

  • Security architecture (if applicable)

  • Threat model (add new threat if discovered)

  • Security testing guide (add regression test)

  • SECURITY.md (if process improvements identified)

  • Code comments (document security-critical sections)

Communication Plan

Internal Communication

Security Team

Maintainers

  • GitHub mentions in security advisory

  • Email for CRITICAL/HIGH incidents

Stakeholders

  • Email summary for CRITICAL incidents

  • Monthly security reports for all others

External Communication

Security Researcher

Acknowledgment (Within 48 hours):

Subject: [SEC-2025-NNNN] Acknowledgment of Security Report

Dear [Researcher Name],

Thank you for your security report regarding [brief description].

We have assigned incident ID SEC-2025-NNNN to track this issue.
Our security team is investigating and will provide an initial
assessment within [timeline based on severity].

We will keep you informed of our progress and coordinate with you
on public disclosure timing.

Best regards,
Review Bot Automator Security Team

Status Update (Weekly for active investigations):

Subject: [SEC-2025-NNNN] Investigation Update

Dear [Researcher Name],

Update on SEC-2025-NNNN:
* Current Status: [Investigating/Fixing/Testing/Deploying]
* Progress: [brief summary]
* Next Steps: [what's next]
* Estimated Timeline: [date]

Thank you for your patience.

Best regards,
Security Team

Resolution Notice

Subject: [SEC-2025-NNNN] Resolution and Disclosure

Dear [Researcher Name],

We have resolved SEC-2025-NNNN and released patched versions:
* Version [x.y.z] addresses the vulnerability
* Advisory published: [URL]
* CVE assigned: CVE-YYYY-NNNNN (if applicable)

We would like to credit you in our advisory. Would you like to be:
* Credited by name: [Your Name]
* Credited anonymously
* Not credited

Public disclosure date: [YYYY-MM-DD] (90 days from report)

Thank you for your responsible disclosure.

Best regards,
Security Team

Public Disclosure

GitHub Security Advisory

  • Published when patch is available

  • Includes affected versions

  • Includes fixed versions

  • Credit to researcher (if permitted)

  • CVSS score and impact description

  • Mitigation steps

PyPI Release Notes

## Version X.Y.Z - Security Release

### Security Fixes
* **[SEC-2025-NNNN]**: Fixed [brief description] (Severity: [LEVEL])
  * Affects versions: [x.y.z - a.b.c]
  * Fixed in: [x.y.z]
  * Credit: [Researcher Name / Anonymous]
  * Advisory: [URL to GitHub Security Advisory]

All users are encouraged to upgrade immediately.

Notification Timing

  • CRITICAL: Immediate public disclosure after patch available

  • HIGH: 7 days after patch available (grace period for upgrade)

  • MEDIUM/LOW: Include in regular release notes

Roles and Responsibilities

Security Team Lead

  • Responsibilities:

    • Oversee incident response process

    • Assign incident severity

    • Coordinate with maintainers

    • Approve public disclosures

    • Conduct post-incident reviews

Incident Responder

  • Responsibilities:

    • Triage reported vulnerabilities

    • Validate and reproduce issues

    • Develop and test fixes

    • Document incident timeline

    • Communicate with reporters

Maintainers

  • Responsibilities:

    • Code review security fixes

    • Assist with testing

    • Deploy patches

    • Update documentation

Communications Lead

  • Responsibilities:

    • Draft public advisories

    • Coordinate disclosure timing

    • Notify affected users

    • Manage external communications

Tools and Resources

Incident Tracking

  • GitHub Security Advisories: Primary tracking system

  • Issue Tracker: For public, non-sensitive issues

  • Email: bdc@virtualagentics.ai

Analysis Tools

  • CodeQL: Variant analysis for similar vulnerabilities

  • ClusterFuzzLite: Reproduce crashes and memory issues

  • Bandit: Scan for Python security issues

  • pip-audit: Check for vulnerable dependencies

  • Trivy: SBOM and vulnerability scanning

Communication Templates

  • Located in: docs/security/templates/ (future)

  • Acknowledgment email

  • Status update email

  • Resolution notice

  • Public advisory template

Escalation Procedures

When to Escalate

To Security Team Lead

  • CRITICAL or HIGH severity incidents

  • Uncertainty about severity classification

  • Conflicts in response approach

  • Media inquiries or public attention

To External Resources

  • Need for forensic analysis

  • Legal implications

  • Regulatory reporting requirements

  • Third-party component involvement

Escalation Contacts

Internal

External

Appendices

Appendix A: Incident Checklist

Detection Phase

  • Incident reported via appropriate channel

  • Incident ID assigned (SEC-YYYY-NNNN)

  • Reporter acknowledged within SLA

  • Private tracking issue created

Triage Phase

  • Vulnerability validated and reproduced

  • Severity assigned using CVSS

  • Impact scope determined

  • Affected versions identified

Containment Phase

  • Immediate containment actions taken

  • Evidence preserved

  • Further exploitation prevented

  • Affected systems isolated

Eradication Phase

  • Root cause identified

  • Fix developed and tested

  • Security team approval obtained

  • Regression tests added

Recovery Phase

  • Patched versions deployed

  • Users notified appropriately

  • Documentation updated

  • Post-deployment monitoring active

Post-Incident Phase

  • Lessons learned meeting conducted

  • Post-incident report published

  • Knowledge base updated

  • Preventive action items assigned

Appendix B: CVE Request Process

When to Request CVE

  • PUBLIC vulnerability affecting multiple users

  • Severity HIGH or CRITICAL

  • Fixed in released version

Process

  1. Request CVE via GitHub Security Advisory

  2. Fill out CVE form with:

    • Affected versions

    • Fixed versions

    • CVSS score

    • Brief description

  3. GitHub auto-assigns CVE ID

  4. Reference CVE in advisory and release notes

Do NOT request CVE for

  • Internal-only issues

  • Issues caught before release

  • LOW severity issues (optional)

Appendix C: Emergency Contacts

Security Team

GitHub Support

CERT/CC

References

Document Version: 1.0 Last Updated: 2025-11-03 Next Review: 2025-05-03 (Semi-annually) Owner: Security Team Approval: Pending