Hermes-Relay can give a remote AI agent real control of a phone and, via the CLI, of a paired desktop. We take security reports seriously and welcome responsible disclosure.

For the architecture, threat model, and the googlePlay vs. sideload capability boundary, see docs/security.md. This document covers how to report a problem.

Please do not open a public issue, discussion, or pull request for a security vulnerability. Public reports expose users before a fix is available.

Use one of these private channels instead:

1. GitHub Private Vulnerability Reporting (preferred). Go to the repository's Security tab → Report a vulnerability, or open a draft advisory directly. This keeps the whole exchange private and threaded with the code.
2. Email — security@codename-11.dev. Use this if you can't use GitHub. If you'd like to encrypt the report, say so in a first contact message and we'll arrange a key.

A good report lets us reproduce and assess impact quickly:

• The affected surface — Android app (and which flavor, googlePlay or sideload), relay plugin / server, desktop CLI, or the docs site.
• Affected version(s) — app version/code, plugin version, or CLI version.
• A clear description of the issue and its security impact.
• Step-by-step reproduction, a proof of concept, or a minimal example.
• Any suggested remediation, if you have one.

⚠️ Scrub secrets before sending. Remove API keys, relay session tokens, pairing codes, real hostnames/IPs, and personal data from logs, traces, and screenshots.

This is an indie, open-source project, so timelines are best-effort rather than contractual:

• Acknowledgement of your report — typically within 5 business days.
• An initial assessment and severity triage after we can reproduce it.
• Coordinated disclosure: we'll work with you on a fix and a disclosure timeline, and credit you in the advisory and release notes if you'd like (or keep you anonymous if you prefer).
• A public GitHub Security Advisory and a CHANGELOG.md entry once a fix ships.

In scope — vulnerabilities in code this project ships:

• The Android app (app/) on either flavor.
• The relay plugin and server (plugin/).
• The desktop CLI (desktop/).
• The pairing, auth, transport, media, and tool-routing surfaces.

Out of scope — please report these to the right place instead:

• Your own Hermes server configuration (missing TLS, an exposed dashboard, weak provider keys). The relay connects only to endpoints you configure; how you deploy and secure your Hermes host is outside this app. See docs/security.md and the relay-server docs for hardening guidance.
• Upstream hermes-agent issues — report those to the upstream project (a heads-up to us is welcome if it affects how Hermes-Relay should behave).
• Third-party dependencies — report upstream; if a dependency issue affects Hermes-Relay users, tell us so we can pin or patch.
• Findings that require a rooted device, a physical-access attacker, or a malicious app already granted Accessibility/overlay permissions — these are outside the model documented in docs/security.md, though we'll still read the report.

We consider security research conducted in good faith under this policy to be authorized. We will not pursue or support legal action against researchers who:

• Make a good-faith effort to avoid privacy violations, data destruction, and service disruption.
• Test only against their own devices, installs, and Hermes servers — never another person's data or infrastructure.
• Report promptly and give us a reasonable chance to remediate before any public disclosure.

Thank you for helping keep Hermes-Relay and its users safe.