ephemera

Projects that follow the best practices below can voluntarily self-certify and show that they've achieved an Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) best practices badge.

There is no set of practices that can guarantee that software will never have defects or vulnerabilities; even formal methods can fail if the specifications or assumptions are wrong. Nor is there any set of practices that can guarantee that a project will sustain a healthy and well-functioning development community. However, following best practices can help improve the results of projects. For example, some practices enable multi-person review before release, which can both help find otherwise hard-to-find technical vulnerabilities and help build trust and a desire for repeated interaction among developers from different companies. To earn a badge, all MUST and MUST NOT criteria must be met, all SHOULD criteria must be met OR be unmet with justification, and all SUGGESTED criteria must be met OR unmet (we want them considered at least). If you want to enter justification text as a generic comment, instead of being a rationale that the situation is acceptable, start the text block with '//' followed by a space. Feedback is welcome via the GitHub site as issues or pull requests There is also a mailing list for general discussion.

We gladly provide the information in several locales, however, if there is any conflict or inconsistency between the translations, the English version is the authoritative version.
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These are the Gold level criteria. You can also view the Passing or Silver level criteria.

Baseline Series: Baseline Level 1 Baseline Level 2 Baseline Level 3

        

 Basics 0/5 ●

  • General

    Note that other projects may use the same name.

    Zero-Trust SSH CA

    Please use SPDX license expression format; examples include "Apache-2.0", "BSD-2-Clause", "BSD-3-Clause", "GPL-2.0+", "LGPL-3.0+", "MIT", and "(BSD-2-Clause OR Ruby)". Do not include single quotes or double quotes.
    If there is more than one language, list them as comma-separated values (spaces optional) and sort them from most to least used. If there is a long list, please list at least the first three most common ones. If there is no language (e.g., this is a documentation-only or test-only project), use the single character "-". Please use a conventional capitalization for each language, e.g., "JavaScript".
    The Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) is a structured naming scheme for information technology systems, software, and packages. It is used in a number of systems and databases when reporting vulnerabilities.

  • Prerequisites


    Not enough for a badge.

    The project MUST achieve a silver level badge. [achieve_silver]

  • Project oversight


    Not enough for a badge.

    The project MUST have a "bus factor" of 2 or more. (URL required) [bus_factor]
    A "bus factor" (aka "truck factor") is the minimum number of project members that have to suddenly disappear from a project ("hit by a bus") before the project stalls due to lack of knowledgeable or competent personnel. The truck-factor tool can estimate this for projects on GitHub. For more information, see Assessing the Bus Factor of Git Repositories by Cosentino et al.

    Ephemera is currently maintained by a single primary developer. The project is actively seeking an additional long-term co-maintainer to increase its bus factor as the project matures.


    Not enough for a badge.

    The project MUST have at least two unassociated significant contributors. (URL required) [contributors_unassociated]
    Contributors are associated if they are paid to work by the same organization (as an employee or contractor) and the organization stands to benefit from the project's results. Financial grants do not count as being from the same organization if they pass through other organizations (e.g., science grants paid to different organizations from a common government or NGO source do not cause contributors to be associated). Someone is a significant contributor if they have made non-trivial contributions to the project in the past year. Examples of good indicators of a significant contributor are: written at least 1,000 lines of code, contributed 50 commits, or contributed at least 20 pages of documentation.

    Ephemera is currently maintained by a single primary developer. The project is actively seeking an additional long-term co-maintainer to increase its bus factor as the project matures.


  • Other


    Not enough for a badge.

    The project MUST include a license statement in each source file. This MAY be done by including the following inside a comment near the beginning of each file: SPDX-License-Identifier: [SPDX license expression for project]. [license_per_file]
    This MAY also be done by including a statement in natural language identifying the license. The project MAY also include a stable URL pointing to the license text, or the full license text. Note that the criterion license_location requires the project license be in a standard location. See this SPDX tutorial for more information about SPDX license expressions. Note the relationship with copyright_per_file, whose content would typically precede the license information.

    The project license is provided in a standard top-level LICENSE file. Per-file SPDX identifiers are not yet present.


 Change Control 4/4 ●

  • Public version-controlled source repository


    Enough for a badge!

    The project's source repository MUST use a common distributed version control software (e.g., git or mercurial). [repo_distributed]
    Git is not specifically required and projects can use centralized version control software (such as subversion) with justification.

    The Ephemera project uses git as its distributed version control system. The public source repository is hosted on GitHub and Codeberg, both of which are git-based platforms.

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera

    https://codeberg.org/Qarait1/ephemera


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST clearly identify small tasks that can be performed by new or casual contributors. (URL required) [small_tasks]
    This identification is typically done by marking selected issues in an issue tracker with one or more tags the project uses for the purpose, e.g., up-for-grabs, first-timers-only, "Small fix", microtask, or IdealFirstBug. These new tasks need not involve adding functionality; they can be improving documentation, adding test cases, or anything else that aids the project and helps the contributor understand more about the project.

    The project clearly identifies small, beginner-friendly tasks for new contributors.

    The CONTRIBUTING.md file includes a dedicated "Small Tasks for New Contributors" section that points contributors to issues labeled good first issue in the GitHub issue tracker. These labeled issues are intended to be approachable entry points, including documentation improvements and small enhancements.

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera/issues?q=label%3A%22good+first+issue%22

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST require two-factor authentication (2FA) for developers for changing a central repository or accessing sensitive data (such as private vulnerability reports). This 2FA mechanism MAY use mechanisms without cryptographic mechanisms such as SMS, though that is not recommended. [require_2FA]

    The Ephemera project is hosted on GitHub, which enforces two-factor authentication (2FA) for maintainers and contributors with elevated privileges. Access to the central repository and sensitive actions such as merging code and managing security settings require authenticated GitHub accounts with 2FA enabled.

    Optional URL (nice but not required):

    https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/securing-your-account-with-two-factor-authentication-2fa


    Enough for a badge!

    The project's two-factor authentication (2FA) SHOULD use cryptographic mechanisms to prevent impersonation. Short Message Service (SMS) based 2FA, by itself, does NOT meet this criterion, since it is not encrypted. [secure_2FA]
    A 2FA mechanism that meets this criterion would be a Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) application that automatically generates an authentication code that changes after a certain period of time. Note that GitHub supports TOTP.

    The Ephemera project is hosted on GitHub, which enforces two-factor authentication (2FA) for maintainers and contributors with elevated privileges. Access to the central repository and sensitive actions such as merging code and managing security settings require authenticated GitHub accounts with 2FA enabled.

    Optional URL (nice but not required):

    https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/securing-your-account-with-two-factor-authentication-2fa


 Quality 6/7 ●

  • Coding standards


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST document its code review requirements, including how code review is conducted, what must be checked, and what is required to be acceptable. (URL required) [code_review_standards]
    See also two_person_review and contribution_requirements.

    Code review requirements are documented in CONTRIBUTING.md.

    All changes are submitted via pull requests, reviewed for correctness, security impact, and adherence to project goals before merging. Automated CI checks must pass before a change can be accepted.

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md


    Not enough for a badge.

    The project MUST have at least 50% of all proposed modifications reviewed before release by a person other than the author, to determine if it is a worthwhile modification and free of known issues which would argue against its inclusion [two_person_review]

    The project is currently primarily maintained by a single contributor. Two-person review is encouraged and will be enforced as additional maintainers join.


  • Working build system


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have a reproducible build. If no building occurs (e.g., scripting languages where the source code is used directly instead of being compiled), select "not applicable" (N/A). (URL required) [build_reproducible]
    A reproducible build means that multiple parties can independently redo the process of generating information from source files and get exactly the same bit-for-bit result. In some cases, this can be resolved by forcing some sort order. JavaScript developers may consider using npm shrinkwrap and webpack OccurrenceOrderPlugin. GCC and clang users may find the -frandom-seed option useful. The build environment (including the toolset) can often be defined for external parties by specifying the cryptographic hash of a specific container or virtual machine that they can use for rebuilding. The reproducible builds project has documentation on how to do this.

    Ephemera does not produce compiled binaries. It is executed directly from source and/or via containerized runtime environments. Therefore, a reproducible build requirement is not applicable.


  • Automated test suite


    Enough for a badge!

    A test suite MUST be invocable in a standard way for that language. (URL required) [test_invocation]
    For example, "make check", "mvn test", or "rake test" (Ruby).

    The test suite can be invoked in a standard way using Python tooling (e.g pytest).
    The automated test suite can be invoked using standard Python tooling (e.g., pytest). Test invocation instructions are documented in the repository.

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST implement continuous integration, where new or changed code is frequently integrated into a central code repository and automated tests are run on the result. (URL required) [test_continuous_integration]
    In most cases this means that each developer who works full-time on the project integrates at least daily.

    Ephemera uses continuous integration via GitHub Actions to automatically run checks and tests on new commits and pull requests before merge.

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera/actions


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have FLOSS automated test suite(s) that provide at least 90% statement coverage if there is at least one FLOSS tool that can measure this criterion in the selected language. [test_statement_coverage90]

    Statement coverage is not currently enforced as a formal metric. The project focuses on functional and security-relevant testing rather than coverage thresholds.


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have FLOSS automated test suite(s) that provide at least 80% branch coverage if there is at least one FLOSS tool that can measure this criterion in the selected language. [test_branch_coverage80]

    Branch coverage metrics are not currently enforced. Automated tests are present and expanded as new functionality is added, but coverage thresholds are not formally measured at this time.


 Security 3/5 ●

  • Use basic good cryptographic practices

    Note that some software does not need to use cryptographic mechanisms. If your project produces software that (1) includes, activates, or enables encryption functionality, and (2) might be released from the United States (US) to outside the US or to a non-US-citizen, you may be legally required to take a few extra steps. Typically this just involves sending an email. For more information, see the encryption section of Understanding Open Source Technology & US Export Controls.

    Enough for a badge!

    The software produced by the project MUST support secure protocols for all of its network communications, such as SSHv2 or later, TLS1.2 or later (HTTPS), IPsec, SFTP, and SNMPv3. Insecure protocols such as FTP, HTTP, telnet, SSLv3 or earlier, and SSHv1 MUST be disabled by default, and only enabled if the user specifically configures it. If the software produced by the project does not support network communications, select "not applicable" (N/A). [crypto_used_network]

    Ephemera relies exclusively on secure, well-established protocols for all network communication. SSH access uses OpenSSH (SSHv2), and any web-based interfaces use HTTPS. Insecure protocols such as SSHv1, FTP, Telnet, or plaintext HTTP are not supported or enabled by default.


    Enough for a badge!

    The software produced by the project MUST, if it supports or uses TLS, support at least TLS version 1.2. Note that the predecessor of TLS was called SSL. If the software does not use TLS, select "not applicable" (N/A). [crypto_tls12]

    Ephemera does not implement a custom TLS stack. When HTTPS is used, TLS termination is handled by standard system libraries or reverse proxies that support TLS 1.2 or later. Therefore, this criterion is not directly applicable to the project itself.


  • Secured delivery against man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks


    Not enough for a badge.

    The project website, repository (if accessible via the web), and download site (if separate) MUST include key hardening headers with nonpermissive values. (URL required) [hardened_site]
    Note that GitHub and GitLab are known to meet this. Sites such as https://securityheaders.com/ can quickly check this. The key hardening headers are: Content Security Policy (CSP), HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), X-Content-Type-Options (as "nosniff"), and X-Frame-Options. Fully static web sites with no ability to log in via the web pages could omit some hardening headers with less risk, but there's no reliable way to detect such sites, so we require these headers even if they are fully static sites.

    The project documentation site is hosted on GitHub Pages, which does not allow project-level configuration of HTTP security headers such as CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options, or X-Content-Type-Options.

    GitHub Pages applies platform-managed security controls, but does not expose header customization to repository owners. As a result, this criterion cannot be fully met at the project level.

    URLs:
    https://qarait.github.io/ephemera/

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera Required security hardening headers missing: https://qarait.github.io/ephemera: content-security-policy, x-content-type-options, x-frame-options, https://github.com/Qarait/ephemerax: content-security-policy, strict-transport-security, x-content-type-options, x-frame-options


  • Other security issues


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST have performed a security review within the last 5 years. This review MUST consider the security requirements and security boundary. [security_review]
    This MAY be done by the project members and/or an independent evaluation. This evaluation MAY be supported by static and dynamic analysis tools, but there also must be human review to identify problems (particularly in design) that tools cannot detect.

    Ephemera has undergone a documented security review performed by the project maintainer. This includes explicit threat modeling, trust boundary analysis, and documented security assumptions in SECURITY_MODEL.md and the project documentation.

    https://codeberg.org/Qarait1/ephemera/src/branch/main/SECURITY_MODEL.md


    Unknown required information, not enough for a badge.

    Hardening mechanisms MUST be used in the software produced by the project so that software defects are less likely to result in security vulnerabilities. (URL required) [hardening]
    Hardening mechanisms may include HTTP headers like Content Security Policy (CSP), compiler flags to mitigate attacks (such as -fstack-protector), or compiler flags to eliminate undefined behavior. For our purposes least privilege is not considered a hardening mechanism (least privilege is important, but separate).

    Ephemera leverages platform-level hardening mechanisms rather than implementing custom low-level security primitives. This includes reliance on OpenSSH security defaults, PAM enforcement, OS-level privilege separation, and container-based isolation. The project does not introduce custom cryptographic or memory-unsafe code requiring compiler-level hardening flags.

    Warning: URL required, but no URL found.


 Analysis 2/2 ●

  • Dynamic code analysis


    Enough for a badge!

    The project MUST apply at least one dynamic analysis tool to any proposed major production release of the software produced by the project before its release. [dynamic_analysis]
    A dynamic analysis tool examines the software by executing it with specific inputs. For example, the project MAY use a fuzzing tool (e.g., American Fuzzy Lop) or a web application scanner (e.g., OWASP ZAP or w3af). In some cases the OSS-Fuzz project may be willing to apply fuzz testing to your project. For purposes of this criterion the dynamic analysis tool needs to vary the inputs in some way to look for various kinds of problems or be an automated test suite with at least 80% branch coverage. The Wikipedia page on dynamic analysis and the OWASP page on fuzzing identify some dynamic analysis tools. The analysis tool(s) MAY be focused on looking for security vulnerabilities, but this is not required.

    Ephemera applies dynamic analysis through its automated test suite and CI workflows, which execute the software with varying inputs and runtime conditions prior to major releases. These tests exercise CLI commands, authentication flows, policy evaluation, and privilege escalation paths, validating runtime behavior rather than only static properties.

    Dynamic testing is executed as part of the continuous integration process before release artifacts are produced.

    https://github.com/Qarait/ephemera/actions


    Barely enough for a badge.

    The project SHOULD include many run-time assertions in the software it produces and check those assertions during dynamic analysis. [dynamic_analysis_enable_assertions]
    This criterion does not suggest enabling assertions during production; that is entirely up to the project and its users to decide. This criterion's focus is instead to improve fault detection during dynamic analysis before deployment. Enabling assertions in production use is completely different from enabling assertions during dynamic analysis (such as testing). In some cases enabling assertions in production use is extremely unwise (especially in high-integrity components). There are many arguments against enabling assertions in production, e.g., libraries should not crash callers, their presence may cause rejection by app stores, and/or activating an assertion in production may expose private data such as private keys. Beware that in many Linux distributions NDEBUG is not defined, so C/C++ assert() will by default be enabled for production in those environments. It may be important to use a different assertion mechanism or defining NDEBUG for production in those environments.

    Ephemera does not rely on language-level runtime assertions as a primary safety mechanism during dynamic analysis. Instead, it emphasizes explicit error handling, fail-safe defaults, and operating system–level enforcement through PAM and OpenSSH.

    Given the system-level nature of the project and its use of interpreted and configuration-driven components, assertion-based fault detection is not a central design pattern.



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Project badge entry owned by: Qarait.
Entry created on 2025-12-28 22:59:01 UTC, last updated on 2025-12-30 18:16:32 UTC.