Secured #4: Bug Bounty Rewards now up to $250,000 USD

The Ethereum Basis Bug Bounty Program is without doubt one of the earliest and longest operating applications of its type. It was launched in 2015 and focused the Ethereum PoW mainnet and associated software program. In 2020, a second Bug Bounty Program for the brand new Proof-of-Stake Consensus Layer was launched, operating alongside the unique Bug Bounty Program.

The break up of those applications is historic as a result of method the Proof-of-Stake Consensus Layer was architected individually and in parallel to the present Execution Layer (contained in the PoW chain). Because the launch of the Beacon Chain in December of 2020, the technical structure between the Execution Layer and the Consensus Layer has been distinct, aside from the deposit contract, so the 2 bug bounty applications have remained separated.

In gentle of the approaching Merge, at the moment we’re blissful to announce that these two applications have been efficiently merged by the superior ethereum.org staff, and that the max bounty reward has been considerably elevated!

Merge (of the Bug Bounty Packages) ✨

With The Merge approaching, the 2 beforehand disparate bug bounty applications have been merged into one.

Because the Execution Layer and Consensus Layer change into increasingly interconnected, it’s more and more helpful to mix the safety efforts of those layers. There are already a number of efforts being organized by shopper groups and the group to additional enhance information and experience throughout the 2 layers. Unifying the Bounty Program will additional enhance visibility and coordination efforts on figuring out and mitigating vulnerabilities.

Elevated Rewards 💰

The max reward of the Bounty Program is now $250,000 (paid out in ETH or DAI) for vulnerabilities in scope. Upgrades dwell on public testnets and focused for a Mainnet launch are additionally scope, and rewards are doubled throughout this time, which implies that the max reward is$

In complete, this marks a 10x enhance from the earlier most payout on Consensus Layer bounties and a 20x enhance from the earlier max payout on Execution Layer bounties.

Affect Measurement 💥

The Bug Bounty Program is primarily centered on securing the bottom layer of the Ethereum Community. With this in thoughts, the influence of a vulnerability is in direct correlation to the influence on the community as an entire.

Whereas, for instance, a Denial of Service vulnerability present in a shopper being utilized by <1% of the community will surely trigger points for the customers of this shopper, it might have a better influence on the Ethereum Community if the identical vulnerability existed in a shopper utilized by >30% of the community.

Visibility 👀

Along with the merge of the bounty applications and enhance of the max reward, a number of steps have been taken to make clear the best way to report vulnerabilities.

Github Safety

Repositories comparable to ethereum/consensus-specs and ethereum/go-ethereum now include info on the best way to report vulnerabilities in SECURITY.md recordsdata.

safety.txt

security.txt is applied and comprises details about the best way to report vulnerabilities. The file itself can be found here.

DNS Safety TXT

DNS Security TXT is applied and comprises details about the best way to report vulnerabilities. This entry will be considered by operating dig _security.ethereum.org TXT.

How will you get began? 🔨

With 9 totally different purchasers written in varied languages, Solidity, the Specs, and the deposit good contract all inside the scope of the bounty program, there’s a loads for bounty hunters to dig into.

In case you’re searching for some concepts of the place to start out your bug looking journey, check out the previously reported vulnerabilities. This was final up to date in March and comprises all of the reported vulnerabilities we’ve got on report, up till the Altair community improve.

We’re trying ahead to your studies! 🐛