Hi Hope you are well. I work for NHS England and I have been asked to conduct a security review of R, I am unable to locate information around the security posture of R. Would someone please be able to direct me to the correct page or alternatively answer the questions below: * When was the application last updated? * How often is it updated? * Are there any guidance that is followed such as OWASP Application Security Verification Standards? * Do you conform with a recognised security standard? (e.g., SOC1/2/3, ISO27001) * Do you have an Information Security Policy with supporting Standards and Procedures? Please provide details (or provide a copy of the policy). * Do you have formal change control and release management processes to manage code changes? Please provide details (or provide a copy of the documented process). * Is the source code anywhere? If so where is and is it secure? * Do you follow secure development processes? How is this achieved? * Are there any common vulnerabilities? * Is there a reporting process for reporting vulnerabilities and remediation processes? Please provide details/a copy of the documented process * Do you undertake audits or other reviews to ensure that security controls are being implemented and operating effectively? How is this done? Can you provide details of this? * Do you undertake regular penetration testing (or similar technical security testing, code review or vulnerability assessment); and are you able to provide a summary of results/findings? * Do your employees (e.g., developers or system administrators) have access to customer data? How is this access controlled and monitored? * Are all personnel required to sign Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or Confidentiality Agreements (CA) as a condition of employment to protect customer information? * Do you have Business Continuity and/or Disaster Recovery Plans? If Yes, please provide details including backup and redundancy mechanisms. * Is there a dedicated security team? * Is there a contact for security issues? * Has a vulnerability disclosure program? * Is there a bug bounty program? * Does R require third party authorization/connections? Thank you Regards Ayesha Majid Cyber Security Advisor | Cyber Operations Transformation Directorate NHS England Mobile: 07842323170 Email: ayesha.majid at nhs.net<mailto:ayesha.majid at nhs.net> Website: www.england.nhs.uk<http://www.england.nhs.uk/> NHS England and NHS Digital have merged. Learn more <https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/nhs-digital-merger-with-nhs-england> Address: Head Office, 5th Floor, 7 & 8 Wellington Place, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 4AP Pronouns: she/her This email is intended only for use by the named addressee. It may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you should contact us immediately and should not disclose, use or rely on this email. We do not accept any liability arising from a third party taking action, or refraining from taking action, on the basis of information contained in this email. Thank you. ************************************************************************************** ****************************** This message may contain confidential information. If yo...{{dropped:22}}
R Tools Security Posture
7 messages · MAJID, Ayesha (NHS ENGLAND - X26), Ivan Krylov, Martin Maechler +3 more
? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000 "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help" <r-help at r-project.org> ?????:
* When was the application last updated? * How often is it updated?
This information is publicly available at <https://developer.r-project.org/> by looking for "Release plans". You can reach this page by starting at <https://www.r-project.org/> and clicking the "Developer Pages" link. The developer pages are admittedly harder to navigate than the main website, but I think that they could answer some of your other questions too. You can also obtain this information by looking for "News" under <https://www.r-project.org/> and by checking the dates of all released versions of R at <https://cloud.r-project.org/src/base/>.
* Is the source code anywhere? If so where is
Yes, you can download release source code by following the "download R" link at <https://www.r-project.org/>, ending up at https://cloud.r-project.org/ (or your preferred CRAN mirror) and clicking the link for the currently-latest version, R-4.3.0.tar.gz. The link to the Subversion repository containing yet unreleased code can be located at https://developer.r-project.org/.
and is it secure?
What's the threat model?
* Are there any common vulnerabilities?
What would be considered a vulnerability in a piece of software that was never supposed to be a security boundary? (Will R run arbitrary code typed at its prompt? Yes, by design. Is it possible to feed maliciously-constructed data into R's unserialize() and cause arbitrary code execution this way? Probably, but typing code at the prompt is much easier. Can third-party R packages that start TCP servers be convinced to run arbitrary code on attacker's behalf? Consider that a given.)
* Do your employees (e.g., developers or system administrators) have access to customer data?
By itself, R processes any data fed into it locally, on the computer where it's running, without contacting R developers about it. The same cannot be guaranteed about third-party packages, although there are tests and reviews at both CRAN and Bioconductor in order to prevent the packages from doing anything considered "anti-social". (See <https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/policies.html> for more information on this.) A sufficiently motivated malicious actor could circumvent them, of course, but that can be said about anything. If someone at NHS wants to use R, they will probably want to use CRAN and Bioconductor packages too. Potentially, they might need packages published elsewhere as well. All these packages will have to be reviewed separately from R, because they are maintained by different people.
* Does R require third party authorization/connections?
No, but shouldn't you be more concerned with third-party software dependencies? (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list open for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)
Best regards, Ivan
Ivan Krylov
on Wed, 17 May 2023 11:52:27 +0300 writes:
> ? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000
> "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help" <r-help at r-project.org>
[ ............. ]
[ ............. ]
[ .. helpful & useful answers / pointers to public information .. ]
[ ............. ]
[ ............. ]
> (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list open
> for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)
> --
> Best regards,
> Ivan
Actually, people typically ask "the R Foundation" or even
individual RF / R-core members such as me about this ...
... as if we were a company with staff to answer such questions;
but we (volunteering individuals) really do *not* have the time
resources for that,
and consequently, also in my function---shared with another few
individuals---as gatekeeper to the R foundation / R core / R webmaster
e-mail addresses, I typically deflect such questions to the
public web sites *and* public e-mail lists.
The big advantage of this approach is that at least the answers
are findable by web searches in the future, and so, hopefully
have to be answered less frequently by volunteers as you, Ivan,
for whom we are really very grateful.
Martin
Fortune nomination (if trimmed a little) ... thanks to Martin, Ivan and so many others who never cease to teach me things here! (As an ex-NHS person who has used R for countless centuries, slowly less awfully courtesy of this list and other angeles, I contacted Ms Majid off list to see if I can help!) Chris
On 17/05/2023 11:11, Martin Maechler wrote:
Ivan Krylov
on Wed, 17 May 2023 11:52:27 +0300 writes:
> ? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000
> "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help"<r-help at r-project.org>
[ ............. ] [ ............. ] [ .. helpful & useful answers / pointers to public information .. ] [ ............. ] [ ............. ]
> (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list open
> for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)
> --
> Best regards,
> Ivan
Actually, people typically ask "the R Foundation" or even individual RF / R-core members such as me about this ... ... as if we were a company with staff to answer such questions; but we (volunteering individuals) really do *not* have the time resources for that, and consequently, also in my function---shared with another few individuals---as gatekeeper to the R foundation / R core / R webmaster e-mail addresses, I typically deflect such questions to the public web sites *and* public e-mail lists. The big advantage of this approach is that at least the answers are findable by web searches in the future, and so, hopefully have to be answered less frequently by volunteers as you, Ivan, for whom we are really very grateful. Martin
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guidehttp://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Chris Evans (he/him) Visiting Professor, UDLA, Quito, Ecuador & Honorary Professor, University of Roehampton, London, UK. Work web site: https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/ CORE site: http://www.coresystemtrust.org.uk/ Personal site: https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/ <https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/> <https://ombook.psyctc.org/book> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
Hi, An additional resource that was not listed below is the R Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) document that is available here: ??https://www.r-project.org/certification.html which addresses a subset of the issues raised. Regards, Marc Schwartz
On May 17, 2023 at 4:52:27 AM, Ivan Krylov (krylov.r00t at gmail.com (mailto:krylov.r00t at gmail.com)) wrote:
? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000 "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help" ?????:
* When was the application last updated? * How often is it updated?
This information is publicly available at by looking for "Release plans". You can reach this page by starting at and clicking the "Developer Pages" link. The developer pages are admittedly harder to navigate than the main website, but I think that they could answer some of your other questions too. You can also obtain this information by looking for "News" under and by checking the dates of all released versions of R at .
* Is the source code anywhere? If so where is
Yes, you can download release source code by following the "download R" link at , ending up at https://cloud.r-project.org/ (or your preferred CRAN mirror) and clicking the link for the currently-latest version, R-4.3.0.tar.gz. The link to the Subversion repository containing yet unreleased code can be located at https://developer.r-project.org/.
and is it secure?
What's the threat model?
* Are there any common vulnerabilities?
What would be considered a vulnerability in a piece of software that was never supposed to be a security boundary? (Will R run arbitrary code typed at its prompt? Yes, by design. Is it possible to feed maliciously-constructed data into R's unserialize() and cause arbitrary code execution this way? Probably, but typing code at the prompt is much easier. Can third-party R packages that start TCP servers be convinced to run arbitrary code on attacker's behalf? Consider that a given.)
* Do your employees (e.g., developers or system administrators) have access to customer data?
By itself, R processes any data fed into it locally, on the computer where it's running, without contacting R developers about it. The same cannot be guaranteed about third-party packages, although there are tests and reviews at both CRAN and Bioconductor in order to prevent the packages from doing anything considered "anti-social". (See for more information on this.) A sufficiently motivated malicious actor could circumvent them, of course, but that can be said about anything. If someone at NHS wants to use R, they will probably want to use CRAN and Bioconductor packages too. Potentially, they might need packages published elsewhere as well. All these packages will have to be reviewed separately from R, because they are maintained by different people.
* Does R require third party authorization/connections?
No, but shouldn't you be more concerned with third-party software dependencies? (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list open for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?) -- Best regards, Ivan
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Chris Presumably you've also pointed her to the NHS R community and in particular is slack group? There are so many variables in what was even being asked it's going to take some time to work through, did the mean R or R Studio or R Studio Cloud... Before any packages.. On Wed, 17 May 2023, 10:49 Chris Evans via R-help, <r-help at r-project.org> wrote:
Fortune nomination (if trimmed a little) ... thanks to Martin, Ivan and so many others who never cease to teach me things here! (As an ex-NHS person who has used R for countless centuries, slowly less awfully courtesy of this list and other angeles, I contacted Ms Majid off list to see if I can help!) Chris On 17/05/2023 11:11, Martin Maechler wrote:
Ivan Krylov
on Wed, 17 May 2023 11:52:27 +0300 writes:
> ? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000
> "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help"<
r-help at r-project.org>
[ ............. ] [ ............. ] [ .. helpful & useful answers / pointers to public information .. ] [ ............. ] [ ............. ]
> (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list
open
> for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)
> --
> Best regards,
> Ivan
Actually, people typically ask "the R Foundation" or even individual RF / R-core members such as me about this ... ... as if we were a company with staff to answer such questions; but we (volunteering individuals) really do *not* have the time resources for that, and consequently, also in my function---shared with another few individuals---as gatekeeper to the R foundation / R core / R webmaster e-mail addresses, I typically deflect such questions to the public web sites *and* public e-mail lists. The big advantage of this approach is that at least the answers are findable by web searches in the future, and so, hopefully have to be answered less frequently by volunteers as you, Ivan, for whom we are really very grateful. Martin
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guidehttp://
www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
-- Chris Evans (he/him) Visiting Professor, UDLA, Quito, Ecuador & Honorary Professor, University of Roehampton, London, UK. Work web site: https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/ CORE site: http://www.coresystemtrust.org.uk/ Personal site: https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/ <https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/> <https://ombook.psyctc.org/book> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Chris replied off list to say he hadn't directed the OP to NHS R Community so it seems prudent to point a link here for eternity -- because there will be another NHS Security Audit with questions that don't fit R properly and the guys in the community may be best placed to answer them Linky: https://nhsrcommunity.com/ On Wed, 17 May 2023, 10:49 Chris Evans via R-help, <r-help at r-project.org> wrote:
Fortune nomination (if trimmed a little) ... thanks to Martin, Ivan and so many others who never cease to teach me things here! (As an ex-NHS person who has used R for countless centuries, slowly less awfully courtesy of this list and other angeles, I contacted Ms Majid off list to see if I can help!) Chris On 17/05/2023 11:11, Martin Maechler wrote:
Ivan Krylov
on Wed, 17 May 2023 11:52:27 +0300 writes:
> ? Tue, 16 May 2023 13:47:19 +0000
> "MAJID, Ayesha \(NHS ENGLAND - X26\) via R-help"<
r-help at r-project.org>
[ ............. ] [ ............. ] [ .. helpful & useful answers / pointers to public information .. ] [ ............. ] [ ............. ]
> (Did you mean to ask these questions at the public mailing list
open
> for J. Random Hackers like me to answer?)
> --
> Best regards,
> Ivan
Actually, people typically ask "the R Foundation" or even individual RF / R-core members such as me about this ... ... as if we were a company with staff to answer such questions; but we (volunteering individuals) really do *not* have the time resources for that, and consequently, also in my function---shared with another few individuals---as gatekeeper to the R foundation / R core / R webmaster e-mail addresses, I typically deflect such questions to the public web sites *and* public e-mail lists. The big advantage of this approach is that at least the answers are findable by web searches in the future, and so, hopefully have to be answered less frequently by volunteers as you, Ivan, for whom we are really very grateful. Martin
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guidehttp://
www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
-- Chris Evans (he/him) Visiting Professor, UDLA, Quito, Ecuador & Honorary Professor, University of Roehampton, London, UK. Work web site: https://www.psyctc.org/psyctc/ CORE site: http://www.coresystemtrust.org.uk/ Personal site: https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/ <https://www.psyctc.org/pelerinage2016/> <https://ombook.psyctc.org/book> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.