InstallGuard is a security tool. Vulnerabilities in InstallGuard itself can directly weaken the supply-chain posture of every project that relies on it. We treat reports accordingly.

In scope for security reporting:

• The InstallGuard CLI, sandbox helper, and registry-proxy plugins
• The policy engine, lockfile adapters, and signal providers shipped in this repository
• The release-distribution pipeline (signing, provenance, container images)
• Documented APIs and on-disk formats (installguard.lock, attestation predicate)

Out of scope:

• Vulnerabilities in third-party packages that InstallGuard scans (those belong to the affected upstream)
• Issues in the underlying package managers (npm, pnpm, yarn, etc.) — please report to them directly
• Denial-of-service requiring an attacker who already controls the policy file or build environment
• Theoretical attacks without a demonstrated impact path
• Missing best-practice headers / hardening on documentation sites

Please do not open a public GitHub issue for security reports.

Use one of the following private channels:

1. GitHub Security Advisories (preferred) — open a draft advisory on this repository.
2. Email — security@installguard.dev (PGP key fingerprint will be published here once releases begin).

Please include:

• a clear description of the issue and its impact
• a minimal reproduction (commands, lockfile excerpt, policy file)
• the InstallGuard version (or commit SHA) and platform
• any suggested mitigation, if known

We acknowledge new reports within 3 working days and aim to provide a triage decision within 10 working days.

We follow coordinated disclosure:

1. We confirm and triage the report.
2. We develop and test a fix in a private branch.
3. We agree a disclosure date with the reporter.
4. We release a patched version with an advisory.
5. We credit the reporter (unless they prefer to remain anonymous).

Default embargo target: 90 days from confirmation, shortened if a fix is ready earlier or if the issue is being actively exploited.

While InstallGuard is pre-1.0, only the latest released version receives security fixes. Once 1.0 ships, the security-support policy will be:

• Latest minor: full support
• Previous minor: critical fixes for 6 months after the next minor releases
• Older versions: no support

These are the properties we commit to maintaining (see DESIGN.md §10 for detail):

• Single static binary; no install-time scripts of our own.
• All releases are signed and ship with SLSA Build Level 3 provenance.
• All registry / network responses are schema-validated; unknown fields are ignored, type mismatches rejected.
• The CLI never executes code from the packages it inspects. All analysis is metadata-based or static.
• The sandbox helper (installguard-sandbox) is a separate binary with minimal surface area.
• Reproducible builds; the build environment is documented and pinned.

If you find behaviour that contradicts any of the above, that is itself a security issue and we want to hear about it.

Reporters who responsibly disclose vulnerabilities will be credited here (with permission) once releases begin.