LEDMatrix/SECURITY.md

Security Policy

Reporting a vulnerability

If you've found a security issue in LEDMatrix, please don't open a public GitHub issue. Disclose it privately so we can fix it before it's exploited.

How to report

Use one of these channels, in order of preference:

1. GitHub Security Advisories (preferred). On the LEDMatrix repo, go to Security → Advisories → Report a vulnerability. This creates a private discussion thread visible only to you and the maintainer.
   • Direct link: https://github.com/ChuckBuilds/LEDMatrix/security/advisories/new
2. Discord DM. Send a direct message to a moderator on the LEDMatrix Discord. Don't post in public channels.

Please include:

• A description of the issue
• The version / commit hash you're testing against
• Steps to reproduce, ideally a minimal proof of concept
• The impact you can demonstrate
• Any suggested mitigation

What to expect

• An acknowledgement within a few days (this is a hobby project, not a 24/7 ops team).
• A discussion of the issue's severity and a plan for the fix.
• Credit in the release notes when the fix ships, unless you'd prefer to remain anonymous.
• For high-severity issues affecting active deployments, we'll coordinate disclosure timing with you.

Scope

In scope for this policy:

• The LEDMatrix display controller, web interface, and plugin loader in this repository
• The official plugins in ledmatrix-plugins
• Installation scripts and systemd unit files

Out of scope (please report upstream):

• Vulnerabilities in rpi-rgb-led-matrix itself — report to https://github.com/hzeller/rpi-rgb-led-matrix
• Vulnerabilities in Python packages we depend on — report to the upstream package maintainer
• Issues in third-party plugins not in ledmatrix-plugins — report to that plugin's repository

Known security model

LEDMatrix is designed for trusted local networks. Several limitations are intentional rather than vulnerabilities:

• No web UI authentication. The web interface assumes the network it's running on is trusted. Don't expose port 5000 to the internet. "Trusted network" does not mean "trusted websites", though: any page a LAN user opens could make their browser POST to the Pi. So the interface refuses a POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE whose Origin (or Referer) header names another site (web_interface/origin_guard.py), and /api/v3/system/action only accepts JSON or HTMX requests. Tools that send neither header (curl, Home Assistant, the MQTT bridge) are unaffected. Not covered: DNS rebinding, and anyone who can reach the port directly.
• Plugins run unsandboxed. Installed plugins execute in the same Python process as the display loop with full file-system and network access. Review plugin code (especially third-party plugins from arbitrary GitHub URLs) before installing. The Plugin Store marks community plugins as Custom to highlight this.
• The display service runs as root for hardware GPIO access. This is required by rpi-rgb-led-matrix.
• config_secrets.json is plaintext. API keys and tokens are stored unencrypted on the Pi. Lock down filesystem permissions on the config directory if this matters for your deployment.

These are documented as known limitations rather than bugs. If you have ideas for improving them while keeping the project usable on a Pi, open a discussion — we're interested.

Supported versions

LEDMatrix is rolling-release on main. Security fixes land on main and become available the next time users run Update Code from the web UI's Overview tab (which does a git pull). There are no LTS branches.