This is a program that I've been championing within @nivenly over the past year, after we noticed that security vulnerabilities weren't being disclosed responsibly, and not enough research was going into the security of Fediverse software.
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One of the interesting clauses on the program is that we expect researchers and contributors to follow the Nivenly Covenant when reporting security vulnerabilities to be eligible for the program.
We want to encourage positive contributions, after we've seen several announcements of security vulnerabilities where the reporter treated the project with disregard or insulted the team behind it. That isn't cool.
We can together all make a safer fediverse.
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We also know that GitHub Sponsors isn't super ideal for payments, but it's a way for us to test the program and ensure compliance with KYC/AML and various other legal requirements.
Hopefully in the future we'll be able to offer more ways to pay the bounties out, if the program continues.
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@thisismissem Thanks for your advocacy work on this!
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@thisismissem hi sorry if this isn't wanted but you've a typo in the first post "after we noticed that security vulnerabilities weren't being responsibly.." think maybe you forgot to write a word?
Keep up the good work
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@Sbectol oh, good catch! My brains' off in the clouds today, I swear
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aaand aaah, TechCrunch have covered the announcement! Thanks @Sarahp!
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/02/a-new-security-fund-opens-up-to-help-protect-the-fediverse/
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@thisismissem @nivenly this is such a cool and needed project!
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@thisismissem @nivenly This is awesome - congrats and so excited that you're a part of this!
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@quillmatiq @nivenly it's something I'm really proud of, and hopefully it can help do some good.
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A great project! Thanks @Sarahp for covering it!
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@thisismissem @nivenly This is amazing. Congratulations, and good work!
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@thisismissem @Sarahp This is awesome!
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@thisismissem@hachyderm.io what would buy-in from fediverse software look like?
NodeBB has its own bug bounty program that awards reporters directly, but if the FSF were to shoulder the grunt work of reporting (and act as a liaison between us and the reporter), we'd be happy to discuss covering the reward and associated costs, for reports that come from Nivenly directly.
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J julian@community.nodebb.org shared this topic on
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@julian you're still receiving the vulnerability reports directly with the Fediverse Security Fund; we pay *after* you've confirmed & patched.
I wasn't aware of your bug bounty program, but could list that alongside your project.
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@thisismissem@hachyderm.io great. I'm thinking that for reports coming from Fediverse Security Fund directly, we'd cover the reward portion (the High (7.0 - 8.9) – $250 USD, Critical (9.0+) – $500 USD) part, either directly to the reporter or more likely through an in-kind donation back to the fund.
Also the fund may need a better acronym... FSF
