<html lang="en">

<link href="overhead.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="mystyle.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="overhead.js"></script>
<div class="slide" style="font-size: 80%">

# What does the EU Cyber&nbsp;Resilience Act mean for PostgreSQL and its users?

[Peter Eisentraut](http://peter.eisentraut.org/)

<div style="font-size: 33%">

April 2026

[peter@eisentraut.org](mailto:peter@eisentraut.org)  
<https://peter.eisentraut.org/>  
[@petereisentraut@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@petereisentraut)

[peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com](mailto:peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com)  
<https://www.enterprisedb.com/>  
[@edbpostgres@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@edbpostgres)

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide" style="text-align: center">

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 23 October 2024 on horizontal cybersecurity requirements
for products with digital elements and amending Regulations (EU) No
168/2013 and (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828
(Cyber&nbsp;Resilience&nbsp;Act)

</div>
<div class="slide" style="text-align: center">

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of <span style="color: red">23 October 2024</span> on
horizontal cybersecurity requirements for <span style="color:
red">products with digital elements</span> and amending Regulations
(EU) No 168/2013 and (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828
(Cyber&nbsp;Resilience&nbsp;Act)

</div>
<div class="slide">

## Applies to

<q>products with digital elements made available on the market, the
intended purpose or reasonably foreseeable use of which includes a
direct or indirect logical or physical data connection to a device or
network</q>

<p style="font-size: 25%">(CRA Art. 2)</p>

</div>
<div class="slide">

## Exceptions

<div style="font-size: 70%">

- medical devices
- motor vehicles
- civil aviation products
- marine equipment
- spare parts
- products exclusively for defence purposes
- products specifically for processing classified information

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Further exceptions

<div style="font-size: 70%">

- trade fairs, exhibitions, demonstrations (with marking)
- unfinished software for testing purposes (with marking)

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## “important” and “critical” products

<div style="font-size: 45%">

- important, e.g.:
    - browsers
	- password managers
	- operating systems
	- network management systems

- critical, e.g.:
    - hypervisors
	- firewalls

⇒ does not affect PostgreSQL

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Important dates

<div style="font-size: 85%">

* entered into force on 10 December 2024
* applies from 11 December 2027
* reporting obligations of manufacturers (Art.&nbsp;14) from&nbsp;11&nbsp;September&nbsp;2026
* notification of conformity assessment bodies (Chap.&nbsp;IV) from&nbsp;11&nbsp;June&nbsp;2026

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Agencies and institutions

<div style="font-size: 85%">

* market surveillance authority (🇩🇪 BSI)
* notifying authority (🇩🇪 BSI)
* CSIRT designated as coordinator (🇩🇪 BSI)
* ENISA 🇪🇺

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## “Manufacturer”?

<div style="font-size: 85%">

<q>a natural or legal person who develops or manufactures products
with digital elements or has products with digital elements designed,
developed or manufactured, and markets them under its name or
trademark, whether for payment, monetisation or free of charge</q>

</div>

<p style="font-size: 25%">(CRA Art. 3)</p>

</div>
<div class="slide">

## “Open-source software steward”

<div style="font-size: 85%">

<q>a legal person, other than a manufacturer, that has the purpose or
objective of systematically providing support on a sustained basis for
the development of specific products with digital elements, qualifying
as free and open-source software and intended for commercial
activities, and that ensures the viability of those products</q>

</div>

<p style="font-size: 25%">(CRA Art. 3)</p>

</div>
<div class="slide">

<img src="CRA-coverage-flowchart.png" width="40%"/>

<div style="font-size: 25%">

(Source: [Draft Commission guidance on the Cyber Resilience Act](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16959-Draft-Commission-guidance-on-the-Cyber-Resilience-Act_en))

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Manufacturer/steward examples

<div style="font-size: 30%">

<table border="1" cellpadding="2">
<tr>
<td>company that sells PostgreSQL or variants with support</td>
<td>manufacturer</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>company that sells (only) training or consulting for PostgreSQL</td>
<td>neither</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>company that sells PostgreSQL DBaaS</td>
<td>neither</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>company that does not sell any services around PostgreSQL but develops an open source software for internal use and also offers it for download</td>
<td>steward</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cloud Native Computing Foundation → Linux Foundation</td>
<td>steward</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PostgreSQL Europe association</td>
<td>steward&nbsp;(?!?)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Software in the Public Interest (SPI)</td>
<td>steward</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PostgreSQL Core Team</td>
<td>neither</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>PostgreSQL Security Team</td>
<td>neither</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>individual PostgreSQL hacker</td>
<td>neither</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Obligations of manufacturers

<div style="font-size: 40%">

(excerpt; CRA Art. 13)

- product complies with essential cybersecurity requirements
- risk assessment (kept up to date)
- due diligence when integrating components sourced from third parties
- report vulnerabilities in integrated components to manufacturers or maintainers, share modifications
- vulnerabilities are handled
- at least 5 years of support
- (can be limited to latest version, if upgrades are easy)
- security updates available for at least 10 years
- single point of contact for reporting vulnerabilities
- conformity assessment and declaration
- technical documentation

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Essential cybersecurity requirements

<div style="font-size: 40%">

(excerpt; CRA Annex I Part I)

- made available on the market without known exploitable vulnerabilities
- made available on the market with a secure by default configuration
- ensure protection from unauthorised access by appropriate control mechanisms
- protect the confidentiality of stored … data
- resilience and mitigation measures against denial-of-service attacks
- provide security related information by recording … activity

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Vulnerability handling requirements

<div style="font-size: 40%">

(excerpt; CRA Annex I Part II)

- drawing up a software bill of materials in a commonly used and machine-readable format covering at the very least the top-level dependencies of the products
- where technically feasible, new security updates shall be provided separately from functionality updates
- apply effective and regular tests and reviews of the security of the product with digital elements
- put in place and enforce a policy on coordinated vulnerability disclosure

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Conformity assessment and declaration

<div style="font-size: 40%">

- either self-assessment or assessment by certified body

- include conformity declaration (or on website)

- affix CE marking

<img src="CE-Raster.jpg" width="30%"/>

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Reporting obligations of manufacturers

<div style="font-size: 40%">

(excerpt; CRA Art. 14)

- report actively exploited vulnerabilities
- report severe security incidents
- inform the impacted users

(24h)

from 11 September 2026!

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Obligations of users

<div style="font-size: 40%">

- none (if not themselves manufacturers)

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Voluntary reporting

<div style="font-size: 40%">

(CRA Art. 15)

- everyone can report vulnerabilities, “cyber threats” or security incidents to CSIRT or ENISA
- manufacturers are informed
- no additional obligations upon reporter

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Obligations of open-source software stewards

<div style="font-size: 40%">

(CRA Art. 24)

- put in place “cybersecurity policy”
- cooperate with the market surveillance authorities
- reporting obligations like manufacturers (Art. 14)
	- if involved in the development
	- if providing infrastructure
- no administrative fines against open-source software stewards (Art. 64(10))

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Security attestation of free and open-source software

<div style="font-size: 40%">

<q>In order to facilitate the due diligence obligation set out in
Article 13(5), in particular as regards manufacturers that integrate
free and open-source software components in their products with
digital elements, the Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts
in accordance with Article 61 to supplement this Regulation by
establishing voluntary security attestation programmes allowing the
developers or users of products with digital elements qualifying as
free and open-source software as well as other third parties to assess
the conformity of such products with all or certain essential
cybersecurity requirements or other obligations laid down in this
Regulation.</q>

</div>

<p style="font-size: 25%">(CRA Art. 25)</p>

</div>
<div class="slide">

## Software bill of materials (SBOM)

<div style="font-size: 85%">

- required when handling vulnerabilities
- can be requested by market surveillance authority
- should be in a standardised format
- (but does not have to be given to all users)

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Homework for manufacturers

(for next 6 months)

- analyze own software dependencies
- clarify roles (manufacturer etc.)
- prepare reporting obligations
- continue observing standardisation

</div>
<div class="slide">

## Homework for PostgreSQL project

<div style="font-size: 85%">

(support for manufacturers)

- formalise vulnerability handling
- for secondary projects: support periods, security concepts, points of contact
- checklists for cybersecurity requirements

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Links

<div style="font-size: 45%">

- [Cyber Security Act](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32024R2847) (EUR-Lex)
- [Cyber Resilience Act - Implementation](https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/factpages/cyber-resilience-act-implementation) (EU)
- [Cyber Resilience Act](https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Unternehmen-und-Organisationen/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Cyber_Resilience_Act/cyber_resilience_act_node.html) (BSI)
- [Draft Commission guidance on the Cyber Resilience Act](https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/16959-Draft-Commission-guidance-on-the-Cyber-Resilience-Act_en)

</div>
</div>
<div class="slide">

## Bye / Questions / Contact

<div style="font-size: 45%">

[peter@eisentraut.org](mailto:peter@eisentraut.org)  
<https://peter.eisentraut.org/>  
[@petereisentraut@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@petereisentraut)

[peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com](mailto:peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com)  
<https://www.enterprisedb.com/>  
[@edbpostgres@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@edbpostgres)

</div>
</div>

</html>
