The Responsible Disclosure Process draft specifically allows for researchers to release vulnerability information if the vendor is not sufficiently responsive. Some people may disagree with the delay of 30 days between initial notification and release, but I don't think there are good stats on how long it really takes vendors to fully address vulnerability reports - open or closed source, freeware or commercial. Let's take a recent example - how much coordination had to happen for the zlib vulnerability? It seems reasonable to assume that it took more than a day. And the controversial "grace period" has the interesting distinction of being used by both Microsoft and Theo de Raadt.
Researchers can help to shed light in this area by publishing disclosure histories along with their advisories. (By the way, vendor advisories rarely include such information.) While the response to the proposal focused almost exclusively on how it impacts researchers, it lays out a number of requirements for vendors, primarily that they (a) make it easy for people to file vulnerability reports, (b) be responsive to incoming vulnerability reports, and (c) address the issues within a reasonable amount of time. IMHO, it makes a stronger impression when someone releases a security advisory with an extensive disclosure history that says how much they tried to resolve the issue with the vendor, before they released. Those who are interested in the legal aspects of "responsible disclosure" are encouraged to read the article by Mark Rasch at http://online.securityfocus.com/columnists/66. The article basically says that the adoption of community standards could protect researchers who disclose issues responsibly, while it could also help vendors who seek legal recourse against researchers who are not responsible (for some definition of "responsible"). The former could happen with a community standard. The latter may already be happening without one. This email is my personal opinion, not my employer's. - Steve (co-author of the aforementioned Responsible Disclosure proposal, which is presently quiet but not dead, but will always be subject to public feedback)
