Desk is actively developed and only the latest release receives security fixes. Please make sure you are on the most recent version before reporting.

Please do not report security vulnerabilities through public GitHub issues.

Instead, report them privately one of these ways:

• Use GitHub's Report a vulnerability button (Security → Advisories), or
• Email sascha@svilling.de with the details.

Please include:

• A description of the issue and its potential impact
• Steps to reproduce, or a proof of concept
• The version of Desk and your operating system

You can expect an initial acknowledgement within a few days. Once the issue is confirmed and fixed, a new release will be published and the advisory disclosed.

Desk stores work content as plain Markdown. In local mode those files stay in the data folder you choose; in self-hosted mode they live on the server you operate. The hosted authentication database contains accounts and sessions, not your workspace content.

External access is opt-in:

• Smart Index: when enabled, Desk sends file previews to the Anthropic or OpenAI provider you select so it can generate summaries. Local API keys are stored in the operating system's secure credential store. In hosted mode, the server operator supplies the provider key through an environment variable.
• MCP: a self-hosted server can grant an external AI client read-only access after an OAuth sign-in and consent flow. Per-workspace .aiignore rules are enforced by the read layer for tree, read, search, and catalog operations.

Desk does not include an in-app chatbot, and MCP clients cannot write workspace content today.

If you find a way for data to leave your machine unexpectedly, that is in scope — please report it.