GovWire

Report a vulnerability

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) takes the security of our systems seriously. If you believe you have found a vulnerability on anyUKHOsystem, you can report using theHackerOne: submit a vulnerability report.

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

We recommend reading this disclosure policy fully before you report any vulnerabilities. This helps ensure that you understand the policy, and act in compliance with it.

We value those who take the time and effort to report security vulnerabilities according to this policy. However, we do not offer monetary rewards for vulnerability disclosures.

Reporting

If you believe you have found a security vulnerability relating to aUKHOsystem, please submit a vulnerability report toHackerOne.

In your submission, include details of:

• the website, IP or page where the vulnerability can be observed
• a brief description of the type of vulnerability, for example an XSS vulnerability
• steps to reproduce. These should be a benign, non-destructive, proof of concept. This helps to ensure that the report can be triaged quickly and accurately. It also reduces the likelihood of duplicate reports, or malicious exploitation of some vulnerabilities, such as sub-domain takeovers.

What to expect

After you have submitted your report, we will respond to your report within 5 working days and aim to triage your report within 10 working days. Well also keep you informed about our progress throughout the process via HackerOne if you have registered for an account.

After the initial triage, priority for remediation is assessed by looking at the impact, severity and exploit complexity. Vulnerability reports might take some time to address. You are welcome to enquire on the status but should avoid doing so more than once every 14 days. This allows our teams to focus on the remediation.

We will notify you when the reported vulnerability is remediated, and you may be invited to confirm that the solution covers the vulnerability adequately.

Once your vulnerability has been resolved, we ask that you coordinate with us for any proposed public disclosure, in order that we can unify guidance to affected users.

Guidance

You must NOT:

• break any applicable law or regulation
• access unnecessary, excessive or significant amounts of data. For example, 2 or 3 records is enough to demonstrate most vulnerabilities, such as an enumeration or direct object reference vulnerability
• modify data inUKHOsystems or services
• use high-intensity invasive or destructive scanning tools to find vulnerabilities
• attempt or report any form of denial of service, for example; overwhelming a service with a high volume of requests
• disrupt theUKHOservices or systems
• submit reports detailing non-exploitable vulnerabilities, or reports indicating that the services do not fully align with best practice, for example missing security headers
• submit reports detailing TLS configuration weaknesses, for example weak cipher suite support or the presence of TLS1.0 support
• communicate any vulnerabilities or associated details other than by means described in this policy
• social engineer, phish or physically attack theUKHOstaff or infrastructure
• demand financial compensation in order to disclose any vulnerabilities.

You must:

• always comply with data protection rules and must not violate the privacy of any data theUKHOholds. You must not, for example, share, redistribute or fail to properly secure data retrieved from the systems or services
• securely delete all data retrieved during your research as soon as it is no longer required or within 1 month of the vulnerability being resolved, whichever occurs first (or as otherwise required by data protection law).

Legalities

This policy is designed to be compatible with common vulnerability disclosure good practice. It does not give you permission to act in any manner that is inconsistent with the law, or which might cause theUKHOor partner organisations to be in breach of any legal obligations.

This policy does not provide any form of indemnity by the Authority or any third party for any actions if you are in breach of the law and/or this policy.

TheUKHOaffirms that it will not seek prosecution of any security researcher who reports any security vulnerability on aUKHOservice or system, where the researcher has acted in good faith and in accordance with this disclosure policy.