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Coordinated Disclosure

Full details of the Bernstein vulnerability disclosure process and researcher sandbox. For the policy summary, severity classification, and recognition, see SECURITY.md.

Program overview

Bernstein orchestrates AI coding agents that run directly on a user's machine. The attack surface is meaningful: agents read/write files, execute CLI commands, and communicate via a local HTTP task server. We treat security seriously and recognize researchers who find real issues.

Report a vulnerability by email to forte@bernstein.run, or open a private security advisory on GitHub: https://github.com/sipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein/security/advisories/new

The project publishes no PGP key, so email to that address is not end-to-end encrypted. Use the GitHub private advisory for anything whose contents matter before a fix ships - a working exploit, a credential, a customer-identifying detail. Email is fine for everything else.

Researcher sandbox

We provide a purpose-built Docker environment so researchers can explore the full attack surface without touching anyone else's infrastructure.

Requirements

  • Docker 24+ and Docker Compose v2
  • 4 GB RAM available
  • Ports 18052, 18080 free on localhost

Start the sandbox

git clone https://github.com/sipyourdrink-ltd/bernstein
cd bernstein
./scripts/researcher_sandbox.sh start

This launches:

Service URL Purpose
Task server http://localhost:18052 Full Bernstein API
Sandbox dashboard http://localhost:18080 Web UI for task management

Pre-loaded test data

The sandbox starts with:

  • 5 synthetic tasks in open state
  • 3 demo agent tokens (research-token-{1,2,3}) with different privilege levels
  • A demo project at /sandbox/workspace/demo-project

Use these tokens in your requests:

# List tasks
curl http://localhost:18052/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer research-token-1"

# Create a task
curl -X POST http://localhost:18052/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer research-token-1" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "test task", "role": "backend"}'

Network isolation

The sandbox container has no outbound internet access. The iptables rules applied by researcher_sandbox.sh block all egress except:

  • DNS resolution (53/udp to the Docker DNS resolver)
  • Inter-container traffic on the research-net bridge

This prevents accidental exfiltration and keeps the sandbox self-contained.

Reset and cleanup

# Reset to clean state (wipes all tasks and worktrees)
./scripts/researcher_sandbox.sh reset

# Stop and remove all containers and volumes
./scripts/researcher_sandbox.sh stop

What to look for

High-value targets in approximate priority order:

1. Task server authentication (Critical / High)

  • POST /tasks - can an unauthenticated caller inject tasks?
  • Token replay / forgery - are tokens validated correctly?
  • Privilege escalation - can a research-token-2 caller access admin endpoints?

Relevant code: src/bernstein/core/routes/

2. Agent spawner (Critical / High)

  • Can a crafted task payload cause the spawner to execute arbitrary commands outside the workspace?
  • Path traversal: does scope or goal field sanitize ../ sequences?
  • Shell injection in spawn_prompt template expansion

Relevant code: src/bernstein/core/agents/spawner.py, src/bernstein/core/agents/spawn_prompt.py

3. Worktree isolation (High / Medium)

  • Does the EnterWorktree / ExitWorktree flow prevent escaping the assigned worktree?
  • Can one agent read another agent's worktree?

Relevant code: src/bernstein/core/orchestration/orchestrator.py

4. Bulletin board (Medium)

  • Can a bulletin post cause XSS in the web dashboard?
  • Can a malicious agent post bulletins that influence other agents' behavior (prompt injection via bulletin)?

Relevant code: src/bernstein/core/communication/bulletin.py

5. Docker sandbox itself (Medium / Low)

  • Is the researcher sandbox actually isolated? Can a container process escape to the host?
  • Does the resource cap (--memory=2g --cpus=2) prevent DoS?

Submission guidelines

  1. Email forte@bernstein.run or open a private GitHub security advisory
  2. Include:
    • Description of the vulnerability
    • Steps to reproduce (curl commands, scripts, or a PoC)
    • Impact assessment (what an attacker could achieve)
    • Affected file(s) and line numbers if known
  3. Attach screenshots or screen recordings for complex PoCs
  4. Do not include production credentials - use the sandbox tokens

Disclosure policy

A first substantive response can take up to 90 days, and no fix date is promised - severity sets the order work happens in, not a deadline. Bernstein has one unpaid maintainer, and that is the whole reason.

You may disclose 90 days after your report, whether or not a fix has shipped, without asking. Earlier is fine if we agree on it.

The terms that govern are in SECURITY.md; this page is the sandbox guide.

Credit

An advisory is published when a fix ships, crediting the reporter by the name, handle, or link they choose, and a CVE can be requested on it. The reporter is also named in the release notes of the release carrying the fix.

Credit lives on those two artefacts rather than in a separate roll of honour, so that it is produced by shipping the fix rather than by remembering to update a page.