Riot Games Offer $100k Bounty Challenge
Riot Games is offering up to $100,000 to ethical hackers who can find vulnerabilities in their anti-cheat system, Vanguard, which protects League of Legends and Valorant.
This bold move is part of Riot's ongoing fight to keep games fair and free from hackers. Vanguard has been a key player in this effort, running deep within your PC's system (at the kernel level) to detect cheats before they can interfere with gameplay.
While it's been effective against cheats like aimbots and hardware exploits, some players have raised concerns about its impact on privacy.
To further strengthen their anti-cheat defenses, Riot has launched a bounty program inviting ethical hackers to uncover weaknesses in Vanguard.
The program is hosted on HackerOne, a platform that connects companies with security researchers to help identify and fix vulnerabilities.
What You Can Earn
Riot is offering tiered rewards for finding exploits in Vanguard, with payouts depending on the type and severity of the issue. Here’s a breakdown of the top bounties:
- Network Attack with No User Interaction:
- Kernel-Level Code Execution: Up to $100,000
- Unauthorized Data Access: Up to $75,000
- Network Attack Requiring User Interaction:
- Kernel-Level Code Execution: Up to $75,000
- Unauthorized Data Access: Up to $50,000
- Local Attack for Privilege Escalation:
- Kernel-Level Code Execution: Up to $35,000
- Unauthorized Data Access: Up to $25,000
To qualify for these rewards, hackers need to provide a proof of concept and follow Riot’s rules. Sharing the exploit publicly disqualifies them from earning the bounty.
