CoW Protocol

Reward calculation and severity

Rewards are distributed according to the demonstrated impact of the vulnerability based on the Immunefi Vulnerability Severity Classification System V2.3, which provides separate severity scales for Smart Contracts and for Websites and Applications. Only the impacts expressly listed in the Impacts in Scope section are eligible.

The maximum reward for eligible critical vulnerabilities is:

• Smart Contracts: USD 1,000,000
• Websites and Applications: USD 10,000

The CoW Protocol 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 CoW team bug bounty panel, on behalf of CoW DAO.

Reward eligibility

The CoW core team (whether paid directly or indirectly, including Grant Core Contributors and external auditors), including current and former team members, is not eligible for rewards. This exclusion includes anyone currently or formerly paid by CoW DAO, its Service Providers, or Gnosis.

In order to be eligible for a reward, bug reports must include:

• An explanation of how the bug can be reproduced.
• A failing test case.
• A valid scenario in which the bug can be exploited.

Proof of Concept

A Proof of Concept demonstrating execution and impact is required for all Smart Contract and Websites and Applications reports, regardless of severity.

For Websites and Applications reports, the Proof of Concept must isolate the defect in the in-scope CoW component and use one of the following reproduction routes:

• CoW-controlled deployment Reproduce on swap.cow.fi or cow.fi. Do so without disrupting the service, affecting other users, submitting unauthorized transactions, or publishing malicious content.

• Existing production integration Identify an existing, legitimate third-party production integration using an eligible version of the affected CoW component. Provide verifiable evidence of its version, relevant configuration and attack prerequisites. A minimal local reproduction is permitted if it preserves the integration’s security-relevant behavior and includes its complete source. A hypothetical integration or researcher-created configuration does not establish eligibility.

• Controlled local reproduction. Where live testing would be unsafe or prohibited, reproduce in an isolated environment using the affected eligible version. Establish that the same code path and prerequisites exist in an eligible production deployment or integration. Local chain forks may be used to demonstrate transaction effects without risking real funds.

Every report must identify the affected version, production reachability, attacker-controlled inputs, trust boundary crossed, required victim actions and specific listed impact. Include reproducible steps, necessary source and configuration, and observed execution results.

For signing or transaction findings, capture the request produced by the affected CoW component and demonstrate how it causes the claimed unauthorized interaction. Claims of direct theft must additionally establish the resulting funds flow through safe execution or equivalent verifiable evidence.

Fixtures, test accounts and instrumentation are permitted where they preserve the relevant behavior. Impact must not depend solely on a stand-in for the affected component, an unreachable production state, or attacker powers assumed rather than established. Modified responses must represent inputs the attacker can actually cause under the program’s trust model.

Safe testing

A controlled proof of capability may be used for a release, publishing, service-worker or denial-of-service finding where demonstrating the impact against production would be unsafe or prohibited. The report must establish the affected production path and the listed impact without publishing malicious code, replacing a production bundle or disrupting the service.

Testing must not be performed against a third party's production deployment without that party's permission.

Researchers may use dev.swap.cow.fi as a safer environment for demonstrating a vulnerability, provided the report establishes that the same issue affects an in-scope production version.

Destructive testing against CoW production, including actual package publication, bundle replacement or denial of service, is prohibited.

Disclosure and remediation

Once the CoW team bug bounty panel accepts an eligible bug, the team shall have the right to decide on and implement the mitigation and publishing steps of the eligible bug on their own terms and timeline.

By submitting a bug report on this platform, the submitter agrees to extend our timeline for resolving the issue (and to not disclose the report elsewhere or to any other party, keeping the information confidential and without exploiting the vulnerability).

Repeatable attacks

For repeatable attacks affecting smart contracts that can be upgraded or paused, only the funds at risk from the initial attack are considered when calculating the reward. Subsequent repetitions receive a 100% reduction in their contribution to the funds-at-risk calculation, because the upgrade or pause mechanism can be used to prevent further exploitation. The initial attack remains subject to the program’s normal reward calculation.

Payouts

Payouts are processed on behalf of and at the expense of CoW DAO and are denominated in USD. Payouts are made in USDC on Ethereum mainnet.