Attackathon | Ethereum Protocol
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Attackathon | Ethereum Protocol
Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain that exists whenver there are connected computers running software following the Ethereum protocol and adding to the Ethereum Blockchain.
Live
Triaged by Immunefi
PoC required
Vault program
KYC required
This Attackathon Is Live!
Up to $1.5 million USD is available in Attackathon rewards during November 25th to January 20, 2025.
You can ask the Ethereum Protocol team any questions directly in the Ethereum Attackathon Discord channel on Immunefi's Discord. During the Attackathon, Ethereum Protocol commits to responding within 48 hours on weekdays to all bug reports.
After the Attackathon, Immunefi will publish a leaderboard and Attackathon findings report, as well as whitehat spotlights and bugfix reviews for top placements.
Immunefi vault program
Rewards
Rewards by Threat Level
The following reward terms are a summary, for the full details read our Ethereum Attackathon Reward Terms.
The reward pool size varies based on the severity of bugs found:
- If one or more Low severity bugs are found the reward pool will be $250,000 USD
- If one or more Medium severity bugs are found the reward pool will be $500,000 USD
- If one or more High severity bugs are found the reward pool will be $900,000 USD
- If one or more Critical severity bugs are found the reward pool will be $1,500,000 USD
Private known issues are considered valid.
Duplicates are not valid for this Attackathon.
Private known issues will unlock higher reward pools as though they were one severity level lower. For example, a Critical severity bug which was a private known issue would unlock the reward pool conditional on a High severity bug being found.
The severity level of private known issues remains unchanged and SRs earn their portion of the reward pool and position on the leaderboard according to this unchanged severity level.
Public known issues are invalid as normal.
Rewards are distributed according to the impact of the vulnerability based on the Immunefi Vulnerability Severity Classification System V2.3.
Reward Payment Terms
Payouts are handled by the Immunefi team directly and are denominated in USD. However, payments are done in ETH
Rewards will be distributed all at once based on Immunefi’s distribution formula after the event has concluded and the final bug reports have been resolved.
Insight Rewards Payment Terms
Insight Rewards: Portion of the Rewards Pool
- The "Insight" severity was introduced on Audit Competition & Attackathon programs to recognize contributions that extend beyond identifying immediate vulnerabilities. Currently, it's not an option to select the Insight severity when submitting a report. However, our team or program will designate it accordingly if applicable. "Insights" underscores our commitment to valuing all types of contributions that contribute to a more secure environment and will always be rewarded. View more information about Insights.
Program Overview
Ethereum is a decentralized, open-source blockchain protocol that supports the development and execution of smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). It enables a trustless, peer-to-peer network where participants can create, exchange, and secure digital assets without intermediaries.
The protocol's core is its Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which ensures the security and validation of transactions through a network of validators. Validators are responsible for proposing and validating blocks of transactions, while the system rewards them for their participation and secures the network from malicious actors.
For more information about Ethereum, please visit https://ethereum.org.
The Attackathon 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.
For more details about the reward system, please refer to the "Rewards by Threat Level" section further below.
- For PoCs, test against the latest release
- Code will not be frozen for this Attackathon, as assets are on mainnet
- Make sure to check the list of publicly known issues before submitting a report
KYC required
The submission of KYC information is a requirement for payout processing.
Additional information: From a restricted country or territory: North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Syria, certain regions of Ukraine (Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk), West Bank and Gaza regions of Israel, Venezuela, Afghanistan; Employees and contractors of the Ethereum Foundation may participate in the program only in the accrual of points and will not receive monetary rewards. Client teams may participate in finding vulnerabilities in other client team’s projects, however employees and contractors of individual client teams who self report vulnerabilities will only result in accrual of points and will not receive monetary rewards
Proof of Concept
Proof of concept is always required for all severities.
Prohibited Activities
- Any testing on mainnet or public testnet deployed code; all testing should be done on local-forks of either public testnet or mainnet
- Any testing with pricing oracles or third-party smart contracts
- Attempting phishing or other social engineering attacks against our employees and/or customers
- Any testing with third-party systems and applications (e.g. browser extensions) as well as websites (e.g. SSO providers, advertising networks)
- Any denial of service attacks that are executed against project assets
- Automated testing of services that generates significant amounts of traffic
- Public disclosure of an unpatched vulnerability in an embargoed bounty
- Any other actions prohibited by the Immunefi Rules
Feasibility Limitations
The project may be receiving reports that are valid (the bug and attack vector are real) and cite assets and impacts that are in scope, but there may be obstacles or barriers to executing the attack in the real world. In other words, there is a question about how feasible the attack really is. Conversely, there may also be mitigation measures that projects can take to prevent the impact of the bug, which are not feasible or would require unconventional action and hence, should not be used as reasons for downgrading a bug's severity.
Therefore, Immunefi has developed a set of feasibility limitation standards which by default states what security researchers, as well as projects, can or cannot cite when reviewing a bug report.