dead-drop vs Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)

dead-drop is a minimal, self-hostable API for sharing ephemeral secrets: the client encrypts the payload before it ever reaches the server, so the backend only ever stores ciphertext it cannot read, and each secret can be set to self-destruct after a single view or a time limit. It needs no account or API key — requests are simply rate-limited per IP — and returns plain JSON over a small REST surface. The design mirrors the classic one-time-secret pattern used for sharing passwords or tokens without leaving a permanent copy anywhere.

MSRC's CVRF API serves Microsoft's own machine-readable security-update bulletins: list every bulletin's ID and dates from `/updates`, then pull one full document by ID (e.g. "2026-Jan") from `/cvrf/{id}` -- as CVRF XML by default, or the same CVRF document serialised to JSON under an `Accept: application/json` header. It's a fully public, unauthenticated REST endpoint with no signup or key required, backing tools like the community MsrcSecurityUpdates PowerShell module. Two traps confirmed live: the OData-shaped response envelope is misleading (most `$filter`/`$top` syntax 500s, and there's no CVE-to-bulletin lookup at all), and the separately documented `/csaf/{id}` route rejected all 17 id formats probed with "Invalid ID format" -- so despite the CSAF branding, the JSON this API actually returns is CVRF, not CSAF. The old stored URL pointed at the unrelated Report Abuse API's developer page; the live developer portal for this security-updates API now redirects straight to its published OpenAPI/Swagger definition.