A ChatGPT account takeover now pays up to $30,000

OpenAI is raising rewards in its security bug bounty program, saying it will more than quadruple, on average, the midpoint of its reward ranges for medium, high and critical findings. A critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex or the API Platform now earns up to $30,000. Exceptional critical findings remain eligible for up to $100,000, and with the new bonuses up to $172,000.

The bonuses are the structural change. High-quality reports get a multiplier on the base bounty: a reliable proof of concept that isolates the bug, shows when it can be exploited and demonstrates its impact. A five-tier loyalty program adds scaling bonuses for researchers who report repeatedly, and priority campaigns will carry dedicated bonus pools for newly launched features. OpenAI's illustrative examples show how they stack: a one-click ChatGPT account takeover at $30,000 multiplied by 1.15 for quality, 1.30 for a priority campaign and 1.15 for the top loyalty tier.

The change is retroactive in part. Reports already submitted but not yet awarded get the new ranges, and for bounties paid in the 30 days before the announcement OpenAI says it will pay the difference if the finding would have earned more. Its security team will also be at the PROMPT2PWN event in Oakland on 20 and 21 November, where researchers can test targets in person.

OpenAI places the program alongside what it calls its Defense Factory, where its engineers use its own models to find weaknesses, reproduce them and test fixes. The direction contrasts with a decision reported here last week: Solana's Firedancer team began charging researchers 1 SOL per report after a contest it believes was flooded with AI-written submissions. One program is paying more for quality, the other charging for volume, and both answer the same change in how bugs are found.