Bug Bounty Radar // The latest bug bounty programs for February 2023

Adam Bannister 31 January 2023 at 15:13 UTC
Updated: 31 January 2023 at 15:23 UTC

New web targets for the discerning hacker

A bypass of Facebook’s SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) made it into Meta’s most impressive bug bounty finds of 2022.

However, it seems Facebook’s parent company initially didn’t fully appreciate the vulnerability, offering a $3,000 bounty before eventually revising the reward upwards to $27,200.

“Since there was no rate limit protection at all while verifying any contact points – email or phone – an attacker just knowing the phone number could add the victim’s 2FA-enabled phone number in his or her Instagram-linked Facebook account,” security researcher Manoj Gautam told The Daily Swig.

In other bug bounty news this month, a hacker duo documented Google Cloud Platform (GCP) research that resulted in six payouts totalling more than $22,000.

The most lucrative find for Sreeram KL and Sivanesh Ashok led to a double $5,000 reward for a server-side request forgery (SSRF) bug and subsequent patch bypass in machine learning platform Vertex AI.

Outlined across four blog posts, their bug bounty exploits also included an SSH key injection issue in Google Cloud’s Compute Engine and flaws in Theia and Cloud Workstations.

Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) misconfigurations were the focus of a third bug bounty writeup covered by The Daily Swig this month.

Exploits fashioned for multiple private programs – notably including Tesla – earned Truffle Security researchers a “few thousand dollars” and vindicated their hypothesis that “large internal corporate networks are exceedingly likely to have impactful CORS [cross-origin resource sharing] misconfigurations”.

Fresh hacking opportunities on the horizon, meanwhile, include The US Department of Defense (DoD)’s third annual Hack The Pentagon challenge and the Zero Day Initiative’s (ZDI’s) inaugural Pwn2Own Automotive, slated for January 2024.

The latest bug bounty programs for February 2023

The past month saw the arrival of several new bug bounty programs. Here’s a list of the latest entries:

8x8

**Program provider:
**HackerOne

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$1,337

**Outline:
**The US provider of business communication technologies has invited hackers to probe its websites, mobile apps, and services such as Jitsi, its open source video meeting software.

**Notes:
**Despite the relatively modest top bounty on offer, 8x8 has already paid out more than $90,000 in bounties within a month of its launch.

Check out the 8x8 bug bounty page for more details

Hedera Hashgraph

**Program provider:
**HackerOne

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$30,000

**Outline:
**Hedera Hashgraph describes itself as “a responsibly governed decentralized network”, with the Hedera Governing Council comprising “enterprises, web3 projects, and prestigious universities”.

**Notes:
**There are seven assets in scope including services and mirror node codebases, Java and JavaScript SDKs, testnet API endpoints, and testnet mirror node APIs.

Check out the Hedera Hashgraph bug bounty page for more details

Hyperlane

**Program provider:
**Immunefi

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$2.5 million

**Outline:
**Hyperlane describes itself as a modular interoperability platform, empowering developers to build interchain applications, apps that can easily and securely communicate between blockchains.

**Notes:
**The life-changing maximum reward is on offer for critical bugs on smart contracts, whereas application flaws can command payouts of up to $20,000.

Check out the Hyperlane bug bounty page for more details

Kiwi.com

**Program provider:
**HackerOne

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$5,000

**Outline:
**Czech online travel agency Kiwi.com provides a fare aggregator, metasearch engine, and booking function for airline tickets and ground transportation.

**Notes:
**In-scope targets include the main website, kiwi.com; tequila.kiwi.com; jobs.kiwi.com; source code; APIs and internal tools; and mobile applications.

Check out the Kiwi.com bug bounty page for more details

Net+

**Program provider:
**GObugfree

**Program type:
**Mix of public and private

**Max reward:
**CHF5,000 ($5,389)

**Outline:
**Netplus.ch, which provides internet, telephony, and TV services to more than 220,000 users in Switzerland, is paying between CHF 2,000-5,000 for critical bugs.

**Notes:
**New targets are initially restricted to the private program for a period of initial testing, before being opened up to the broader hacking community within the public program.

Check out the Net+ private and public bug bounty pages for more details

Open-Xchange (OX) App Suite

**Program provider:
**YesWeHack

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**€5,000 ($5,430)

**Outline:
**Open-Xchange’s OX App Suite is an open source email and productivity suite that purports to favor security by default rather than security through obscurity.

**Notes:
**Open-Xchange, hitherto a HackerOne client, has migrated its bug bounty programs to YesWeHack. CISO Martin Heiland recently discussed the hacking opportunities on offer with the Paris-based platform.

Check out the OX App Suite bug bounty page for more details

Open-Xchange Dovecot

**Program provider:
**YesWeHack

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**€5,000 ($5,430)

**Outline:
**Dovecot is Open-Xchange’s IMAP, POP3, and submission server for email, used within multiple operating systems and by “millions of operators”.

**Notes:
**Open-Xchange, hitherto a HackerOne client, has migrated its bug bounty programs to YesWeHack. CISO Martin Heiland recently discussed the hacking opportunities on offer with the Paris-based platform.

Check out the Dovecot bug bounty page for more details

Open-Xchange PowerDNS

**Program provider:
**YesWeHack

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**€5,000 ($5,430)

**Outline:
**PowerDNS is a DNS server that enables domain resolution and network security features.

**Notes:
**Open-Xchange, hitherto a HackerOne client, has migrated its bug bounty programs to YesWeHack. CISO Martin Heiland recently discussed the hacking opportunities on offer with the Paris-based platform.

Check out the PowerDNS bug bounty page for more details

S-Pankki

**Program provider:
**HackerOne

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$4,000

**Outline:
**The Finnish bank is offering up to $4,000 for critical vulnerabilities, $2,000 for high severity flaws, and $1,000 for medium severity bugs.

**Notes:
**There are 11 assets in scope, including nine domains plus iOS and Android mobile applications.

Check out the S-Pankki bug bounty page for more details

Superbet

**Program provider:
**HackerOne

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$2,000

**Outline:
**The Romanian online gaming company is offering a maximum of $2,000 for critical bugs, $1,000 for high severity issues, and $250 for medium impact vulnerabilities.

**Notes:
**Just the one asset in scope: the.superbet.ro domain.

Check out the Superbet bug bounty page for more details

Swiss Bankers

**Program provider:
**GObugfree

**Program type:
**Private

**Max reward:
**Undisclosed

**Outline:
**Swiss Bankers is a financial services firm specializing in prepaid credit cards, mobile payment, and money transfer.

**Notes:
**Hackers can participate by invitation only.

Check out the Swiss Bankers bug bounty page for more details

Threema (Enhanced)

**Program provider:
**GObugfree

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**CHF10,000 ($10,778)

**Outline:
**Swiss instant messenger service Threema has upped maximum payouts from CHF4,000 ($4,311) To CHF10,000 ($10,778) after launching the program in May 2022.

**Notes:
**This news comes after the privacy-focused software disputed claims that there were several security flaws in its encrypted messaging platform.

Check out the Threema bug bounty page for more details

TRON DAO

**Program provider:
**HackerOne

**Program type:
**Public

**Max reward:
**$5,000

**Outline:
**TRON DAO is an open source platform for creating decentralized applications, new financial primitives, and interoperable blockchains.

**Notes:
**TRON’s Java source code is currently the sole asset in scope.

Check out the TRON DAO bug bounty page for more details

Wato-soft

**Program provider:
**GObugfree

**Program type:
**Private

**Max reward:
**Undisclosed

**Outline:
**Swiss IT services firm specializing in Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

**Notes:
**Hackers can participate by invitation only.

Check out the Wato-Soft bug bounty page for more details

Other bug bounty and VDP news this month

• An Amazon virtual hacking event with HackerOne was the platform’s highest paying virtual event ever, with more than 50 security researchers collectively earning $832,135. The 10-day hackathon’s overall winner was @jonathanbouman, while ‘Best Team Collaboration’ went to ‘spacebaffoons’ @the_arch_angel, @spaceraccoon, and (one time Daily Swig interviewee) @ajxchapman
• As referenced in our latest Deserialized roundup, Intigriti has flagged a Belgium-wide safe harbor clause in the country’s proposed whistleblower law, and a New Scientist feature on a mathematical means of demonstrating valid exploits without risking public disclosure
• Finally, YesWeHack has penned a how-to on using Burp Suite extension Highlighter And Extractor (HaE) to surface vulnerabilities via regular expressions

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