The question of how much information to provide and when to make it public is a contentious issue. Some people argue for full and immediate disclosure, including the specific information that could be used in an exploit taking advantage of the vulnerability; others believe that limited information should be made available to a selected group after some specified amount of time has elapsed since the vulnerability was found; and still others believe that no vulnerability information should be published at all.
A number of organizations are establishing vulnerability disclosure policies. According to CERT's policy, for example, they will: inform the vendor about a vulnerability as soon as practically possible after they receive a report; advise the reporter of changes in the status of the vulnerability; and, under most circumstances, disclose the information to the public 45 days after the problem is reported, whether the vendor has dealt with the issue or not.