⚠️ EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE - v0.1.0 is an alpha release not suitable for production use.

• Keys stored in the OS keyring by default; falls back to plaintext ~/.signet/master.key when the keyring is unavailable or Signet is initialized with --insecure
• signet authority and other long-running automation currently use file-based master keys (secure keyring support planned)
• No security audit performed
• APIs will change before v1.0
• Tested primarily on macOS (Linux should work but minimal testing)

• OS keyring integration uses github.com/zalando/go-keyring, which stores secrets as Go strings
• Go strings are immutable, so secrets may persist in process memory until garbage collection
• Private keys are zeroed after use, but short-lived remnants may exist (see pkg/cli/keystore/secure.go)

• Ed25519 cryptographic operations
• Ephemeral key generation (5-minute lifetime)
• Domain separation implementation
• Memory zeroization for ephemeral keys

DO NOT report security vulnerabilities through public GitHub issues.

Instead, please report them via:

1. Email to the maintainer (see git history for contact)
2. Use GitHub's private vulnerability reporting (if enabled)

• Description of the vulnerability
• Steps to reproduce
• Potential impact
• Suggested fix (if any)

• Acknowledgment: Within 48 hours
• Initial assessment: Within 1 week
• Fix timeline: Depends on severity

When using Signet v0.1.0:

1. Do not use in production - This is experimental software
2. Protect master keys - Store in secure locations with proper permissions
3. Monitor key usage - Check for unauthorized access to ~/.signet/
4. Test thoroughly - Verify signatures work in your environment
5. Stay updated - Watch for security updates

Planned for v1.0:

• Encrypted key storage
• Password protection
• Hardware security module support
• Professional security audit
• Formal verification of cryptographic operations

• Signatures: Ed25519 (RFC 8032), ML-DSA-44 (FIPS 204) via cloudflare/circl
• Hashing: SHA-256, BLAKE3
• Encoding: CMS/PKCS#7 (RFC 5652) with Ed25519 (RFC 8410)
• Wire Format: COSE Sign1 with SIG1 compact encoding
• Certificates: X.509 v3 with 5-minute validity
• Key derivation: Not yet implemented (planned)

Signet follows a minimal wrapper code philosophy for cryptographic and hardware operations. External dependencies are carefully vetted:

1. Memory Safety: Dependencies that handle cryptographic material must demonstrate proper memory zeroization
2. Audit Trail: Preferably maintained by organizations with security expertise
3. API Stability: Mature APIs with documented security properties
4. Build Tag Isolation: CGO dependencies are isolated behind build tags to keep the default Pure Go build portable

• golang.org/x/crypto - Official Go crypto extensions

  • Maintained by Go team
  • Used for Ed25519 operations
  • Well-audited standard library extensions

• github.com/agentic-research/go-cms - CMS/PKCS#7 with Ed25519

  • Extracted from this project for reuse
  • OpenSSL-compatible signatures
  • No CGO dependencies

• github.com/agentic-research/go-platform-signers - Hardware token integration

  • Public repository: https://github.com/agentic-research/go-platform-signers
  • Provides crypto.Signer implementations for PKCS#11
  • Only compiled when -tags=pkcs11 is specified
  • Status: Under active security review
  • PIN Handling: Delegates PIN zeroization to underlying PKCS#11 module

• github.com/miekg/pkcs11 - PKCS#11 Go bindings (transitive via go-platform-signers)

  • Widely used in Go ecosystem
  • Thin CGO wrapper around native PKCS#11 libraries
  • Security properties depend on the underlying HSM/token vendor libraries

Before adding a new cryptographic or hardware dependency:

1. Security Review:

   • Check for memory safety issues (buffer overflows, use-after-free)
   • Verify zeroization of sensitive material
   • Review issue tracker for security vulnerabilities

2. Maintainer Assessment:

   • Who maintains it? (Individual, organization, community)
   • How active is development?
   • How are security issues handled?

3. Build Tag Strategy:

   • Pure Go implementations: default build
   • CGO/platform-specific: behind build tags
   • Document the tradeoff between portability and features

4. Documentation:

   • Add to this SECURITY.md with vetting rationale
   • Document security properties and limitations
   • Clarify who is responsible for memory safety

Thanks to researchers and developers who review and provide feedback on Signet's security model.