Configuring private vulnerability reporting for a repository

Owners and administrators of public repositories can allow security researchers to report vulnerabilities securely in the repository by enabling private vulnerability reporting.

Who can use this feature?

Repository owners, organization owners, security managers, and users with the admin role

In this article

Enabling private vulnerability reporting gives security researchers a secure, structured way to disclose vulnerabilities directly in your repository. Once enabled, researchers can submit reports through without resorting to public disclosure or informal channels. For background on private vulnerability reporting and how it fits into coordinated disclosure, see About coordinated disclosure of security vulnerabilities.

The instructions in this article refer to enablement at repository level. For information about enabling the feature at organization level, see Configuring private vulnerability reporting for an organization.

Enabling or disabling private vulnerability reporting for a repository

  1. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. Under your repository name, click Settings. If you cannot see the "Settings" tab, select the dropdown menu, then click Settings.

    Screenshot of a repository header showing the tabs. The "Settings" tab is highlighted by a dark orange outline.

  3. In the "Security" section of the sidebar, click Advanced Security.

  4. Under "Advanced Security", to the right of "Private vulnerability reporting", click Enable or Disable, to enable or disable the feature, respectively.

    Screenshot of the "Code security and analysis" page, showing the "Private vulnerability reporting" setting. The "Enable" button is outlined in orange.

When private vulnerability reporting is enabled for a repository, security researchers will see a new button in the Advisories page of the repository. The security researcher can click this button to privately report a security vulnerability to the repository maintainer.

Screenshot showing the "Report a vulnerability" button for a repository where private vulnerability reporting has been enabled.

Security researchers can also use the REST API to privately report security vulnerabilities. For more information, see Privately report a security vulnerability.

Configuring notifications for private vulnerability reporting

When a new vulnerability is privately reported on a repository where private vulnerability reporting is enabled, GitHub notifies repository maintainers and security managers if:

  • They're watching the repository for all activity.
  • They have notifications enabled for the repository.

Notifications depend on the user's notification preferences. You will receive an email notification if:

  • You are watching the repository.
  • You have enabled notifications for "All Activity".
  • In your notification settings, under "Subscriptions", then under "Watching", you have selected to receive notifications by email.

  1. On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the repository.

  2. To start watching the repository, select Watch.

    Screenshot of the repository's main page. A dropdown menu, titled "Watch", is highlighted with an orange outline.

  3. In the dropdown menu, click All Activity.

  4. Navigate to the notification settings for your personal account. These are available at https://github.com/settings/notifications.

  5. On your notification settings page, under "Subscriptions," then under "Watching," select the Notify me dropdown.

  6. Select "Email" as a notification option, then click Save.

    Screenshot of the notification settings for a user account. Under "Subscriptions" and "Watching" a checkbox, titled "Email", is outlined in orange.

For more information about setting up notification preferences, see Managing security and analysis settings for your repository and Configuring your watch settings for an individual repository.