Automotive Vulnerability Disclosure: Stakeholders, Opportunities, Challenges

Since several years, the overall awareness for the necessity to consider a vehicle as a potentially vulnerable system is facing accelerated growth. In 2015, the safety relevant exploitability of vulnerabilities through cyber attacks was exposed to a broader public for the first time. Only a few months after this attack has reached public awareness, affected manufacturer implemented one of the first bug bounty programs within the automotive field. Since then, many others followed by adapting some of ITs good practices for handling and responsibly disclose found and reported vulnerabilities for the automotive field. Nevertheless, this work points out that much remains to be done concerning quantity and quality of these measures. In order to cope with this, this present paper deals with what can be learned from IT and which conclusions can be drawn from these findings in the light of special conditions in the automotive environment. Furthermore, current handling and challenges regarding the disclosure process of vulnerabilities in the automotive sector are presented. These challenges are addressed by discussing desirable conditions for a beneficial disclosure culture as well as requirements and responsibilities of all parties involved in the disclosure process.