In 2024, our Vulnerability Reward Program confirmed the continuing worth of participating with the safety analysis group 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 packages.
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 sequence of adjustments and enhancements coming to our vulnerability reward packages and associated initiatives:
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The Google VRP revamped its reward construction, bumping rewards as much as a most of $151,515, the Cell 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 beneath part on Chrome for particulars).
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We rolled out InternetCTF – to get rewarded, uncover novel code execution vulnerabilities in open supply and supply Tsunami plugin patches for them.
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The Abuse VRP noticed a 40% YoY enhance in payouts – we acquired over 250 legitimate bugs concentrating on abuse and misuse points in Google merchandise, leading to over $290,000 in rewards.
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To enhance the cost course of for rewards going to bug hunters, we launched Bugcrowd as an extra cost possibility on bughunters.google.com alongside the present customary Google cost possibility.
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We hosted two editions of bugSWAT for coaching, ability sharing, and, in fact, some stay 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).
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We doubled down on our dedication to assist the subsequent era of safety engineers by internet hosting 4 init.g workshops (Las Vegas, São Paulo, Paris, and Malaga). Comply with the Google VRP channel on X to remain tuned on future occasions.
Extra detailed updates on chosen packages are shared within the following sections.
Android and Google Units
In 2024, the Android and Google Units Safety Reward Program and the Google Cell Vulnerability Reward Program, each a part of the broader Google Bug Hunters program, continued their mission to fortify the Android ecosystem, attaining new heights in each influence and severity. We awarded over $3.3 million in rewards to researchers who demonstrated distinctive ability in uncovering crucial vulnerabilities inside Android and Google cell 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% enhance 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 deal with Android Automotive OS and WearOS, bringing precise automotive units to a number of stay 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 cell 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 report for essentially the most legitimate stories 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 recognize all researchers who participated in final yr’s bugSWAT occasion in Málaga. Your contributions are invaluable!
Chrome
Chrome did some transforming 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 situation to $250,000 for demonstrating RCE within the browser or different non-sandboxed course of, and extra if carried out straight with out requiring a renderer compromise.
In 2024, UAF mitigation MiraclePtr was totally launched throughout all platforms, and a yr after the preliminary launch, MiraclePtr-protected bugs are now not being thought of 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 direction of the V8 sandbox, finally changing into a safety boundary in Chrome.
We acquired 337 stories of distinctive, legitimate safety bugs in Chrome throughout 2024, and awarded 137 Chrome VRP researchers $3.4 million in complete. The very 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 saying 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 raised align our stories with their influence 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 stories 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 bought to satisfy a lot of our superb researchers who make our program so profitable! The overwhelming optimistic suggestions from the researcher group continues to propel us to mature Google Cloud VRP additional this yr. Keep tuned for some thrilling bulletins!
Generative AI
We’re celebrating an thrilling first yr of AI bug bounties. We acquired over 150 bug stories – over $55,000 in rewards to date – with one-in-six resulting in key enhancements.
Control Gen AI in 2025 as we deal with increasing scope and sharing extra methods for our researcher group to contribute.
In 2025, we shall be celebrating 15 years of VRP at Google, throughout which now we have remained totally dedicated to fostering collaboration, innovation, and transparency with the safety group, and can proceed to take action sooner or later. Our purpose stays to remain forward of rising threats, adapt to evolving applied sciences, and proceed to strengthen the safety posture of Google’s services.
We need to ship an enormous thanks to our bug hunter group for serving to us make Google merchandise and platforms extra secure and safe for our customers world wide – and invite researchers not but engaged with the Vulnerability Reward Program to affix us in our mission to maintain Google secure!
Thanks to Dirk Göhmann, Amy Ressler, Eduardo Vela, Jan Keller, Krzysztof Kotowicz, Martin Straka, Michael Cote, Mike Antares, Sri Tulasiram, and Tony Mendez.
Tip: Need to be told of recent developments and occasions round our Vulnerability Reward Program? Comply with the Google VRP channel on X to remain within the loop and make sure to try the Safety Engineering weblog, which covers matters starting from VRP updates to safety practices and vulnerability descriptions (30 posts in 2024)!
