Open for submissions
Bug Bounty Program
Earn up to 250,000 USD and a place on the leaderboard by finding protocol, client and language compiler bugs affecting the Ethereum network.
Clients featured in the bounties











In Scope
Our bug bounty program spans end-to-end: from soundness of protocols (such as the blockchain consensus model, the wire and p2p protocols, proof of stake, etc.) and protocol/implementation compliance to network security and consensus integrity. Classical client security as well as security of cryptographic primitives are also part of the program. All bug disclosures and vulnerability submissions must be made through our bug submission formopens in a new tab.
Specification bugs
The Ethereum Specifications detail the design rationale for the Execution Layer and Consensus Layer.
Execution Layer Specificationsopens in a new tab
It might be helpful to check out the following annotations:
Types of bugs
- Safety/finality-breaking bugs
- Denial of service (DOS) vectors
- Inconsistencies in assumptions, like situations where honest validators can be slashed
- Calculation or parameter inconsistencies
Client bugs
Clients run the Ethereum Network, and they need to follow the logic set out in the specification and be secure against potential attacks. The bugs we want to find are related to the implementation of the protocol.
Currently execution layer clients (Besu, Erigon, Geth, Nethermind and Reth) and consensus layer clients (Lighthouse, Lodestar, Nimbus, Teku and Prysm) are included in the Bug Bounty Program. More clients may be added as they complete audits and become production ready.
Types of bugs
- Spec non-compliance issues
- Unexpected crashes, RCE or denial of service (DOS) vulnerabilities
- Any issues causing irreparable consensus splits from the rest of the network
Language compiler bugs
The Solidity and Vyper compilers are in scope of the bug bounty program. Please include all details necessary to reproduce the vulnerability such as: Input program that triggers the bug, Compiler version affected, Target EVM version, Framework/IDE if applicable, EVM execution environment/client if applicable and Operating system, Please include steps to reproduce the bug you have found in as much detail as possible.
Solidity and Vyper does not hold security guarantees regarding compilation of untrusted input – and we do not issue rewards for crashes of the compiler on maliciously generated data.
Helpful links
Deposit Contract bugs
The specifications and source code of the Beacon Chain Deposit Contract is part of the bug bounty program.
Dependency bugs
Certain dependencies are crucial for the Ethereum Network to function, and some of these have been added to the bug bounty program. Currently, the list of dependencies included in the bug bounty program are C-KZG-4844 and Go-KZG-4844.
Out of scope
Only the targets listed under in-scope are part of the Bug Bounty Program. Vulnerabilities that do NOT qualify under the program include:
- ✕Infrastructure bugs—such as webpages, dns, email, etc.*
- ✕ERC-20 contract bugs*
- ✕Ethereum Naming Service (ENS) bugs (maintained by the ENS foundation)
- ✕Vulnerabilities requiring the user to have publicly exposed an API, such as JSON-RPC or the Beacon API
- ✕Typographical errors
- ✕Tests
- ✕High-effort (sustained, CPU or bandwidth intensive, and/or requires more than 1 packet or onchain transaction) single-peer DoS attacks
- ✕Any publicly known issues (includes forum posts, PRs, github issues, commits, blog posts, public discord messages, etc.)
- ✕Anything that does not currently have a direct impact on Ethereum mainnet.
*These are not included, however, we can sometimes help reach out to affected parties
Bug hunting rules
The bug bounty program is an experimental and discretionary rewards program for our active Ethereum community to encourage and reward those who are helping to improve the platform. It is not a competition. You should know that we can cancel the program at any time, and awards are at the sole discretion of Ethereum Foundation bug bounty panel. In addition, we are not able to issue awards to individuals who are on sanctions lists or who are in countries on sanctions lists (e.g., North Korea, Iran, etc). Local laws require us to ask for proof of your identity. You are responsible for all taxes. All awards are subject to applicable law. Finally, your testing must not violate any law or compromise any data that is not yours and must take place on local running testnets.
- 1Issues without a POC or that have already been submitted by another user or are already known to spec and client maintainers are not eligible for bounty rewards.
- 2Public disclosure of a vulnerability or reporting it to other parties without prior agreement makes it ineligible for a bounty.
- 3Employees and contractors of the Ethereum Foundation, Ethereum Foundation grantees, or client teams in scope of the bounty program may participate in the program only in the accrual of points and will not receive monetary rewards.
- 4Ethereum bounty program considers a number of variables in determining rewards. Determinations of eligibility, score and all terms related to an award are at the sole and final discretion of the Ethereum Foundation bug bounty panel.
Vulnerability severity qualifications
Severity is assessed based on a discovered vulnerability's ability to do the following:
- Slash >0.01% of validators
- Trivially cause network splits affecting >0.01% of the network
- Be able to bring down >0.01% of the network by sending a single network packet or an onchain transaction
- Slash >1% of validators
- Trivially cause network splits affecting >5% of the network
- Be able to bring down >5% of the network by sending a single network packet or an onchain transaction
- Slash >33% of validators
- Trivially cause network splits affecting >33% of the network
- Be able to bring down >33% of the network by sending a single onchain transaction
- Slash >50% of validators
- Exploit an EIP/specification or client bug to easily create an infinite amount of ETH which is finalized by the network
- Steal ETH from all EOAs
- Burn ETH from all EOAs
- Take down the entire network by sending a single malicious onchain transaction that ends up crashing all clients
Submit a bug
Execution Layer Bug Bounty leaderboard
Find execution layer bugs to get added to this leaderboard
Consensus Layer Bug Bounty leaderboard
Find consensus layer bugs to get added to this leaderboard
Frequently asked questions
Page last update: February 28, 2026















































































