PyTorch and the PyPI supply chain

PyTorch and the PyPI supply chain

There cannot be a way to specify that an update is a security update without losing any gains from the "minimal version" route; there is no way to distinguish "malicious actor flags version with back door as security update" from "good actor flags version removing back door as security update".

As with so many things, it all comes down to trust. If you trust upstream to release good updates, you want to take their latest code. If you don't trust upstream, you should be locking exact versions, and reviewing every new release upstream manually before you bring it in (which, in turn, has to be your top priority in case the fixes are security relevant to your code).