AV developer Avast starts bug bounty program

Avast, the Prague-based maker of the popular eponymous AV software, has announced the introduction of a bug bounty program.

Rewards are offered only for security-related bugs in the software – information about UI, localization, bugs in the company’s website, and similar is, of course, welcome, but researchers will not be paid for it.

Researchers are urged to search for bugs in the latest shipping versions of Avast Free Antivirus, Avast Pro Antivirus, and Avast Internet Security.

The company is interested in receiving information about remote code execution and local privilege escalation bugs, DoS vulnerabilities, bugs that allow attackers to bypass or escape the avast! Sandbox, clear scanner bypasses, and other bugs with serious security implications – but only in Avast itself (not, for example, in a Microsoft library).

Researchers can earn themselves as little as $200 per bug, but can also be awarded $3,000 or more for remote code execution bugs.

Submitted bug reports should contain sufficient information for the company to reliably reproduce the bug, and should be sent to bugs@avast.com. For more details about the program, go here.

“As a security company, we very much realize that security bugs in software are reality. But we also realize that companies that are able to use their user communities to find and fix bugs are generally more successful that those that don’t. Therefore, we have decided to reward individuals who help us find and fix security-related bugs in our own software,” Avast commented the introduction of the program.