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clearbluejar committed Dec 8, 2023
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### Ecosystem

>Overall, the risk of post-patch vulnerability exploitation is inevitable for software which can be freely reverse-engineered, and is thus accepted as a natural part of the ecosystem. [Mateusz Jurczyk -P0](https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2017/10/using-binary-diffing-to-discover.html)
>Overall, the risk of post-patch vulnerability exploitation is inevitable for software which can be freely reverse-engineered, and is thus accepted as a natural part of the ecosystem. [Mateusz Jurczyk -P0](https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2017/10/using-binary-diffing-to-discover.html)
Patch diffing is a reality of the modern day update process. For vendors of closed source software, an interesting dichotomy exists between the release of updates to improve the security of software while simultaneously providing malicious attackers and security researchers a map to vulnerable code. This same tension is present within the vulnerability disclosure debate.
Patch diffing is a reality of the modern-day update process. For vendors of closed-source software, a dichotomy exists between the release of updates to improve security while simultaneously providing malicious attackers and security researchers a map to vulnerable code. This same tension is present within the vulnerability disclosure debate.

> Patch diffing is an often overlooked part of the perpetual vulnerability disclosure debate, **as vulnerabilities become public knowledge as soon as a software update is released, not when they are announced in release notes**. Skilled researchers can quickly determine the vulnerability that was fixed by comparing changes in the codebase between old and new versions. If the vulnerability is not publicly disclosed before or at the same time that the patch is released, then this could mean that the researchers who undertake the patch diffing effort could have more information than the defenders deploying the patches.[Maddie Stone -P0](https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2020/04/tfw-you-get-really-excited-you-patch.html)
> Patch diffing is an often overlooked part of the perpetual vulnerability disclosure debate, **as vulnerabilities become public knowledge as soon as a software update is released, not when they are announced in release notes**. Skilled researchers can quickly determine the vulnerability that was fixed by comparing changes in the codebase between old and new versions. If the vulnerability is not publicly disclosed before or at the same time that the patch is released, then this could mean that the researchers who undertake the patch diffing effort could have more information than the defenders deploying the patches.[Maddie Stone -P0](https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2020/04/tfw-you-get-really-excited-you-patch.html)
The debate as to whether or not public disclosure of vulnerabilities is ethical, is up for [debate](https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/the-vulnerability-disclosure-debate/). One side of the argument proclaims public disclosure raises awareness of security issues, pressuring vendors to fix them. The counter argument is that disclosure provides a shortcut for attackers. The entire [premise](https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2020/01/policy-and-disclosure-2020-edition.html) of groups like Project Zero releasing vulnerabilities for the "greater good" is hotly contested. Whether or not you agree, a security patch is a form of vulnerability disclosure that is **always public**.
The controversy as to whether or not public disclosure of vulnerabilities is beneficial is up for [debate](https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/the-vulnerability-disclosure-debate/). One side of the argument proclaims public disclosure raises awareness of security issues, pressuring vendors to fix them. The counterargument is that disclosure provides a shortcut for attackers. . The [premise](https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2020/01/policy-and-disclosure-2020-edition.html) of groups like Project Zero releasing vulnerabilities for the greater good is hotly contested. Whether or not you agree, a security patch is a form of vulnerability disclosure that is **always public**.

## Benefits

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