Apple Introduces $2M Bug Bounty for Spyware-Level Exploits

[MacRumors]

Apple has announced a major overhaul of its bug bounty program that doubles the top reward to $2 million for exploit chains that can match the sophistication of mercenary spyware attacks.

With bonuses for Lockdown Mode bypasses and vulnerabilities found in beta software, Apple says its total payouts could exceed $5 million. The company claims this represents "the largest payout offered by any bounty program."

The program now places greater emphasis on complete exploit chains rather than individual vulnerabilities, reflecting the reality that real-world attacks typically chain multiple bugs together. The rewards for remote-entry vectors have also been substantially increased, although categories not commonly seen in actual attacks will receive lower payouts.

As part of the overhaul, Apple is introducing "Target Flags," which are inspired by capture-the-flag games. When a researcher successfully exploits a vulnerability, they can capture a specific flag that proves exactly what level of access they achieved, such as code execution or arbitrary read/write capabilities.

These flags can be verified by Apple, so researchers who submit reports using them can receive notification of their bounty award immediately after Apple validates the captured flag. The payment is also issued in an upcoming payment cycle, meaning researchers won't have have to wait until Apple releases a software fix, which can take months. Previously, researchers often had to wait for Apple to patch a vulnerability before receiving payment.

The updated program comes into effect from November 2025. Apple is also expanding categories to include one-click WebKit sandbox escapes worth up to $300,000 and wireless proximity exploits over any radio worth up to $1 million. A complete Gatekeeper bypass on macOS now earns $100,000.

More information on the changes can be found on Apple's Security Research website. Apple says it has paid out over $35 million to more than 800 researchers since launching the public program in 2020.

Article Link: Apple Introduces $2M Bug Bounty for Spyware-Level Exploits

 

[tyranne201]

iOS 26 is the biggest exploit. award me now.

 

[neuropsychguy]

This is a great program and these updates make it much more enticing to people to find exploits. It's good to see Apple's focus on improving security.

 

[Macusercom]

Great program, worst execution. There have been so many exploits that have been disclosed and those who find it do not get even remotely what Apple promises them. This is the reason many exploits remain hidden and get sold to higher bidders

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Good, they should be encouraging people to find vulnerabilities, and they have the money to do this.

 

[Apple-achian]

This is why I trust Apple with my personal data.

 

[titanium69]

Companies should focus heavily on this.. especially with all the hacking by state actors like Mossad going on.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Great program, worst execution. There have been so many exploits that have been disclosed and those who find it do not get even remotely what Apple promises them. This is the reason many exploits remain hidden and get sold to higher bidders

Can you give some examples of those?

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Can you give some examples of those?

Apple paid only $1k for a critical security flaw graded 9.8/10

Apple encourages security researchers to seek out and report vulnerabilities in its devices and apps, in return for which it...

9to5mac.com

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

This is why I trust Apple with my personal data.

Company	Program Name	Max Reward (USD)	Notes
Apple	Apple Security Bounty	$2,000,000	For zero-click spyware exploit chains (effective Nov 2025); previously $1M.
Google	Vulnerability Reward Program	$1,500,000	For full-chain zero-click RCE in Android; up to $3.1M for Chrome sandbox escapes.
Microsoft	Microsoft Bounty Programs	$250,000	For critical RCE in Hyper-V or Azure; varies by product (e.g., $100K+ for Edge).
Meta	Meta Bug Bounty	$300,000	For mobile RCE exploits; focuses on privacy/compromise in apps like Facebook/Instagram.
Intel	Intel Bug Bounty	$100,000	For critical hardware RCE; lower for software-only issues.

Honestly I trust none of them. Fully, no way.

 

[Will Co]

Great program, worst execution. There have been so many exploits that have been disclosed and those who find it do not get even remotely what Apple promises them. This is the reason many exploits remain hidden and get sold to higher bidders

Absolutely right. This is something that many people just don't appreciate. There is money to be made in finding vulnerabilities and those doing so may wish to sell to the highest bidder, rather than doing the right thing. All companies that create software or hardware that will eventually become the target of hackers should be offering a bug-bounty program. Because if they don't pay for the information, someone else will.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The biggest and worst vulnerabilities stay silent, as no amount of money can compete with how valuable they are for State actors.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Related to this discussion, Jeff shares some flaws..

 

[neomorpheus]

For a second I read bugs in Tahoe and I though, man, their trillions wont be enough!

 

[t0rqx]

Good, they should be encouraging people to find vulnerabilities, and they have the money to do this.

Apple refuses to add another drop of water in the vapor chamber in the new iPhone 17 Pros which cost approax 0.005 ct.

I doubt they really want to spend money on this. In fact lot of bugs have been reported but never been rewarded.

They either ignore it or release change logs saying they found it on their own!

 

[turbineseaplane]

They either ignore it or release change logs saying they found it on their own.

Correct.

Apple are like when Gene Roddenberry kept taking credit for scripts other people wrote for Star Trek.

 

[t0rqx]

Correct.

Apple are like when Gene Roddenberry kept taking credit for scripts other people wrote for Star Trek.

They have done this before with certain apps. Stealing their ideas and implementing it in their OS.

 

[turbineseaplane]

They have done this before with certain apps. Stealing their ideas and implementing it in their OS.

100%. They've routinely stolen ideas from Android, iOS Jailbreak tweaks/functions as well as from their own Developers (sherlocking).

It's hilarious to me when people go bananas pointing out others copying from Apple with the unbelievably old and tired "Redmond, start your photocopiers!" gag.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

The biggest and worst vulnerabilities stay silent, as no amount of money can compete with how valuable they are for State actors.

The biggest vulnerabilities are probably all the VPNs.

Give us all your most precious traffic, we pinky promise to care for it. We’ll even “encrypt” it for you 😂

 

[con2apple]

Honestly I trust none of them. Fully, no way.

Why?
Unlike government agencies or small businesses, these companies at least place some value on security.

Did you know that the software company Modern Solution considers it safe to store the master password for the server on the server? That the German government has simply declared unencrypted electronic mailboxes for lawyers and courts to be “secure and encrypted” by law?

We don't need to talk about the motives of the largest companies. But I trust them more to store data securely than I trust my own government.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Why?
Unlike government agencies or small businesses, these companies at least place some value on security.

Did you know that the software company Modern Solution considers it safe to store the master password for the server on the server? That the German government has simply declared unencrypted electronic mailboxes for lawyers and courts to be “secure and encrypted” by law?

We don't need to talk about the motives of the largest companies. But I trust them more to store data securely than I trust my own government.

Because of dodgy secrecy laws. To keep us all safe, of course.

 

[con2apple]

It's hilarious to me when people go bananas pointing out others copying from Apple with the unbelievably old and tired "Redmond, start your photocopiers!" gag.

That's because of habit. Long-time Apple fans (like most editors at Macrumors) still live with the idea of protecting a small, innocent underdog. One that could be crushed at any time, any day, by the evil, evil, evil people.

They say it takes 50 years for a new idea to spread.
This actually comes from science, but somehow applies to everything else as well.

For over fifteen years, Apple has been one of the largest and most powerful tech companies in the world.
But somehow, many people still haven't realized this.

 

[con2apple]

Because of dodgy secrecy laws.

So you distrust companies because of government regulations.
Okay, that's understandable.

May I ask who you do trust?
Or do you trust no one and use Linux exclusively?

 

[turbineseaplane]

That's because of habit. Long-time Apple fans (like most editors at Macrumors) still live with the idea of protecting a small, innocent underdog. One that could be crushed at any time, any day, by the evil, evil, evil people.

They say it takes 50 years for a new idea to spread.
This actually comes from science, but somehow applies to everything else as well.

For over fifteen years, Apple has been one of the largest and most powerful tech companies in the world.
But somehow, many people still haven't realized this.

It's sort of a strange dichotomy.

On one hand we have people acting like Apple is still the plucky underdog and shouldn't be regulated in any way at all, but in another thread the same type of user will post how "the 1 zillion active Apple users" justifies their every move as a success and "right" and they should be lauded and defended and allowed to do whatever they want.

The common theme is always "master Apple is right sir"

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

So you distrust companies because of government regulations.
Okay, that's understandable.

May I ask who you do trust?
Or do you trust no one and use Linux exclusively?

I use macOS. Do I trust that my information is 100% secure? No. If I was using Linux (which I won’t be) would I trust it 100%? No.