⚠️ DO NOT open a public issue for security vulnerabilities.

SafeVault handles sensitive credential data. Security issues must be reported privately to prevent exploitation.

1. Preferred: Use GitHub Private Vulnerability Reporting
2. Alternative: Email security@safevault.local with subject line [SECURITY] Brief description

• Description of the vulnerability
• Steps to reproduce
• Potential impact
• Suggested fix (if you have one)
• Your contact info for follow-up

• Acknowledgment: Within 48 hours
• Triage: Within 7 days
• Fix & Disclosure: Within 90 days (coordinated with reporter)

We will:

• Confirm the vulnerability and determine severity
• Work with you to understand the issue fully
• Develop and test a fix
• Release a patch
• Publish a security advisory (crediting you if desired)

• Bugs that don't affect confidentiality/integrity of user data
• UI glitches, performance issues, feature requests
• Issues already reported and being worked on

1. Use a strong master password (12+ chars, mixed, symbols)
2. Never share your master password — it cannot be recovered
3. Keep regular encrypted backups — stored offline if possible
4. Keep SafeVault updated — security patches are released promptly
5. Use 2FA (TOTP) for high-value accounts stored in SafeVault
6. Lock your vault when stepping away (Ctrl+Shift+L)

SafeVault is designed to protect against:

• ✅ Offline brute-force attacks (via Argon2id WASM key derivation & PBKDF2 600K iterations)
• ✅ Device theft (encrypted vault requires master password)
• ✅ Memory inspection (keys wiped on lock)
• ✅ Timing attacks (constant-time compare)
• ✅ Clipboard leakage (auto-clear after 30s)
• ✅ Sleep/hibernate attacks (auto-lock on wake)
• ✅ Wi-Fi sync sniffing attacks (E2EE derived via Argon2id + HMAC signatures)
• ✅ Relay server privacy breach (Zero-knowledge design ensures data is encrypted client-side before transit)

SafeVault does NOT protect against:

• ❌ Compromised OS / malware with full system access
• ❌ Hardware keyloggers
• ❌ Physical access to unlocked device
• ❌ Master password disclosure by user

SafeVault is 100% Free, Open-Source, and Zero-Telemetry. It collects absolutely no user analytics, crash logs, diagnostic pings, or usage metadata.

External network requests are strictly gated and initiated ONLY in the following scenarios (all of which require explicit transient user permission):

1. Security Health Audits (k-Anonymity): When running a password breach scan, the app queries the HaveIBeenPwned API. To preserve privacy, it only sends the first 5 characters of the SHA-1 hash of your password. Matching and detection happen entirely locally.
2. Website Favicon Loading: High-quality website logos are fetched via the anonymous DuckDuckGo Icons API (https://icons.duckduckgo.com/ip3/domain.ico). SafeVault sends only the parsed website hostname (e.g. icedrive.net), never your login credentials or usernames.
3. GitHub Updates Check: If enabled in Settings (disabled by default), the app queries the GitHub API on startup to check for newer releases.
4. Initial App Download: Downloading the installation packages or loading the web showcase in a browser requires an internet connection.

• Pairing Authentication (HMAC Challenge): Connections are authorized using a screen-displayed 6-digit PIN. To prevent sniffing of the PIN over LAN HTTP, the client hashes the PIN with a timestamp nonce (SHA-256(PIN + Timestamp)) and sends the hash. The server validates this in constant-time, preventing timing attacks and network replay snooping.
• E2EE Transport Strength: Sync payload transport keys are derived using memory-hard Argon2id (matching the vault KDF standard) rather than weak key derivation functions.
• Zero-Knowledge Node Server: The local HTTP host (sync-server.cjs) only routes the opaque payload; the credentials are decrypted/merged exclusively within the renderer sandboxes (React application process), keeping the server backend zero-knowledge.
• Subnet Restriction: Local sync operates entirely over peer-to-peer Wi-Fi networks. It cannot cross the WAN/Internet and both devices must share the same local network subnet.
• Brute-Force Prevention: The local sync server enforces an IP-based rate limit of maximum 3 failed attempts per IP. Reaching this limit permanently blocks the IP for that sync session.
• Mixed Content Limitation: When running the Web App client in a web browser over HTTPS, local browser security models (Mixed Content block) will prevent the client from sending HTTP requests to the local network server. In this scenario, users must use the Desktop or Mobile clients to execute Wi-Fi syncing.

Thank you for helping keep SafeVault users safe! 🔐