Google On-line Safety Weblog: Vulnerability Reward Program: 2024 in Evaluation

In 2024, our Vulnerability Reward Program confirmed the continuing worth of participating with the safety analysis neighborhood to make Google and its merchandise safer. This was evident as we awarded simply shy of $12 million to over 600 researchers primarily based in nations across the globe throughout all of our applications.

Vulnerability Reward Program 2024 in Numbers

You possibly can study who’s reporting to the Vulnerability Reward Program through our Leaderboard – and discover out extra about our youngest safety researchers who’ve not too long ago joined the ranks of Google bug hunters.

VRP Highlights in 2024

In 2024 we made a collection of adjustments and enhancements coming to our vulnerability reward applications and associated initiatives:

• The Google VRP revamped its reward construction, bumping rewards as much as a most of $151,515, the Cellular VRP is now providing as much as $300,000 for crucial vulnerabilities in top-tier apps, Cloud VRP has a top-tier award of up $151,515, and Chrome awards now peak at $250,000 (see the under part on Chrome for particulars).

• We rolled out InternetCTF – to get rewarded, uncover novel code execution vulnerabilities in open supply and supply Tsunami plugin patches for them.

• The Abuse VRP noticed a 40% YoY improve in payouts – we acquired over 250 legitimate bugs focusing on abuse and misuse points in Google merchandise, leading to over $290,000 in rewards.

• To enhance the cost course of for rewards going to bug hunters, we launched Bugcrowd as an extra cost choice on bughunters.google.com alongside the present normal Google cost choice. 

• We hosted two editions of bugSWAT for coaching, ability sharing, and, in fact, some reside hacking – in August, we had 16 bug hunters in attendance in Las Vegas, and in October, as a part of our annual safety convention ESCAL8 in Malaga, Spain, we welcomed 40 of our prime researchers. Between these two occasions, our bug hunters had been rewarded $370,000 (and loads of swag).

• We doubled down on our dedication to help the following era of safety engineers by internet hosting 4 init.g workshops (Las Vegas, São Paulo, Paris, and Malaga). Observe the Google VRP channel on X to remain tuned on future occasions.

Extra detailed updates on chosen applications are shared within the following sections.

Android and Google Units

In 2024, the Android and Google Units Safety Reward Program and the Google Cellular Vulnerability Reward Program, each a part of the broader Google Bug Hunters program, continued their mission to fortify the Android ecosystem, reaching new heights in each affect and severity. We awarded over $3.3 million in rewards to researchers who demonstrated distinctive ability in uncovering crucial vulnerabilities inside Android and Google cellular purposes. 

The above numbers mark a big change in comparison with earlier years. Though we noticed an 8% lower within the complete variety of submissions, there was a 2% improve within the variety of crucial and excessive vulnerabilities. In different phrases, fewer researchers are submitting fewer, however extra impactful bugs, and are citing the improved safety posture of the Android working system because the central problem. This showcases this system’s sustained success in hardening Android.

This yr, we had a heightened concentrate on Android Automotive OS and WearOS, bringing precise automotive units to a number of reside hacking occasions and conferences. At ESCAL8, we hosted a live-hacking problem centered on Pixel units, leading to over $75,000 in rewards in a single weekend, and the invention of a number of reminiscence security vulnerabilities. To facilitate studying, we launched a brand new Android hacking course in collaboration with exterior safety researchers, centered on cellular app safety, designed for newcomers and veterans alike. Keep tuned for extra.

We lengthen our deepest gratitude to the devoted researchers who make the Android ecosystem safer. We’re proud to work with you! Particular due to Zinuo Han (@ele7enxxh) for his or her experience in Bluetooth safety, blunt (@blunt_qian) for holding the document for essentially the most legitimate experiences submitted to the Google Play Safety Reward Program, and WANG,YONG (@ThomasKing2014) for groundbreaking analysis on rooting Android units with kernel MTE enabled. We additionally admire all researchers who participated in final yr’s bugSWAT occasion in Málaga. Your contributions are invaluable! 

Chrome

Chrome did some reworking in 2024 as we up to date our reward quantities and construction to incentivize deeper analysis. For instance, we elevated our most reward for a single subject to $250,000 for demonstrating RCE within the browser or different non-sandboxed course of, and extra if accomplished straight with out requiring a renderer compromise. 

In 2024, UAF mitigation MiraclePtr was absolutely launched throughout all platforms, and a yr after the preliminary launch, MiraclePtr-protected bugs are not being thought-about exploitable safety bugs. In tandem, we elevated the MiraclePtr Bypass Reward to $250,128. Between April and November, we additionally launched the primary and second iterations of the V8 Sandbox Bypass Rewards as a part of the development in the direction of the V8 sandbox, finally changing into a safety boundary in Chrome. 

We acquired 337 experiences of distinctive, legitimate safety bugs in Chrome throughout 2024, and awarded 137 Chrome VRP researchers $3.4 million in complete. The best single reward of 2024 was $100,115 and was awarded to Mickey for his or her report of a MiraclePtr Bypass after MiraclePtr was initially enabled throughout most platforms in Chrome M115 in 2023. We rounded out the yr by asserting the prime 20 Chrome VRP researchers for 2024, all of whom had been gifted new Chrome VRP swag, that includes our new Chrome VRP mascot, Bug.

Cloud VRP

The Cloud VRP launched in October as a Cloud-focused vulnerability reward program devoted to Google Cloud services. As a part of the launch, we additionally up to date our product tiering and improved our reward construction to higher align our experiences with their affect on Google Cloud. This resulted in over 150 Google Cloud merchandise coming below the highest two reward tiers, enabling higher rewards for our Cloud researchers and a safer cloud.

Since its launch, Google Cloud VRP triaged over 400 experiences and filed over 200 distinctive safety vulnerabilities for Google Cloud services resulting in over $500,000 in researcher rewards. 

Our spotlight final yr was launching on the bugSWAT occasion in Málaga the place we received to fulfill a lot of our superb researchers who make our program so profitable! The overwhelming constructive suggestions from the researcher neighborhood continues to propel us to mature Google Cloud VRP additional this yr. Keep tuned for some thrilling bulletins!

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