SafetyPublished Top storyAll news from that day
OpenAI pays up to $30,000 for critical bugs in core products like ChatGPT
OpenAI says Codex helped engineers in its last security sprint; for the next, with Cathedral, it names no model. Reports not yet paid move to the new reward ranges.
Check our sources · 16 facts from 2 sources
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Key points
- OpenAI says it is more than quadrupling, on average, the midpoint of its medium, high and critical reward ranges; critical core-product findings earn up to $30,000.
- Exceptional critical findings on those targets remain eligible for up to $100,000, and now up to $172,000 with bonuses; reports submitted but not yet awarded get the new ranges.
- For bounties awarded in the 30 days before the announcement, OpenAI says it will pay the difference where the finding would have earned more under the new ranges.
What happened
OpenAI says it is more than quadrupling, on average, the midpoint of its reward ranges for medium, high and critical findings in its Security Bug Bounty program.
A critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex or the API Platform will now earn up to $30,000, and exceptional critical findings on those targets stay eligible for up to $100,000, now up to $172,000 with bonuses, according to OpenAI's post of 2 November.
The program adds a quality bonus multiplier on the base bounty, a five-tier loyalty bonus and short-term priority campaign multipliers for newly launched features.
Reports already submitted without an award get the new ranges, and bounties awarded in the 30 days before the announcement are topped up where the finding would have earned more.
OpenAI's own illustrative example is a one-click account takeover in ChatGPT: a historical award of $6,500, against a new base of $30,000 and $51,577 after multipliers.
In a second post the same day, OpenAI says it is planning its next internal security sprint with the security firm Cathedral, whose researchers will use OpenAI's models alongside OpenAI's teams to test its defences. OpenAI does not name which models.
It says that in its last sprint 25% of its product engineers worked on finding and fixing weaknesses, and that they used Codex to investigate findings, reproduce vulnerabilities in isolated environments and prepare patches for review.
OpenAI also says it has committed $1 billion in subsidized access over six months for frontline defenders protecting essential services and digital infrastructure. It says it is making its most capable models available to Daybreak customers. The security team will be at the PROMPT2PWN event in Oakland on 20 and 21 November.
What it means for you
Our viewThe change reaches back as well as forward: researchers with an open report, or an award from the last 30 days, can expect it to be re-read against the new ranges.
OpenAI's own example pays $51,577 for a critical account takeover in ChatGPT, built from a $30,000 base and three multipliers, and OpenAI says all its scenarios are illustrative, so real payouts depend on how the bonuses apply. On the sprint, OpenAI names Codex for the last one and no model for the next.
If you report vulnerabilities, OpenAI's security team will be at PROMPT2PWN in Oakland on 20 and 21 November, a chance to ask how the multipliers work.
It adds no new facts.
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Check our sources
Every sentence above is checked against these 2 sources.
1 Rewarding defenders with bigger bug bounties
Open the source archived copy-
OpenAI's Security Bug Bounty post of 2 November says it is more than quadrupling, on average, the midpoint of its reward ranges for medium, high and critical findings.
citeOpenAI November 2, 2026 ... We're more than quadrupling the midpoint of our reward ranges for medium, high, and critical findings on average.
-
OpenAI says a critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex or the API Platform will now earn up to $30,000.
citeA critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex, or the API Platform will now earn up to $30,000.
-
OpenAI says exceptional critical findings on those targets remain eligible for up to $100,000, and now up to $172,000 with bonuses.
citeExceptional critical findings on those targets remain eligible for up to $100,000, and now up to $172,000 with bonuses.
-
OpenAI says high-quality reports will be eligible for a bonus multiplier on the base bounty.
citeHigh-quality reports will be eligible to earn a bonus multiplier on the base bounty.
-
OpenAI says it is introducing a tiered, five-tier loyalty bonus program for researchers.
citewe are introducing a tiered loyalty bonus program. This 5-tier system provides scaling bonuses to recognize, support, and celebrate researchers who consistently partner with us
-
OpenAI says priority campaigns will feature dedicated bonus pools for newly launched features.
citepriority campaigns will feature dedicated bonus pools for newly launched features. These short-term campaigns give researchers early, high-reward opportunities to test new developments
-
OpenAI says that if a researcher has already submitted a report and not yet been awarded a bounty, the new reward ranges will apply.
citeIf you've already submitted a report and we haven't yet awarded a bounty, we'll apply the new reward ranges.
-
OpenAI says that for bounties awarded in the 30 days before the announcement, it will pay the difference if the finding would have earned more under the new ranges.
citeFor bounties we awarded in the 30 days before this announcement, we'll pay you the difference if your finding would have earned more under the new ranges (Base Award + Loyalty Awards).
-
OpenAI gives as an illustrative example a critical one-click account takeover in ChatGPT with a historical award of $6,500 and a new payout of $51,577, calculated as $30,000 x 1.15 quality bonus x 1.30 priority campaign bonus x 1.15 loyalty tier bonus, and says all scenarios and historical awards are illustrative.
citeCritical - ChatGPT (core asset): One-click account takeover. | $6,500 | $30,000 × 1.15 Quality Bonus × 1.30 Priority Campaign Bonus × 1.15 31337 Loyalty Tier Bonus | $51,577 ... All scenarios and historical awards are illustrative.
-
OpenAI says its security team will be at PROMPT2PWN in Oakland on 20 and 21 November.
citeOn November 20–21, our security team will be at PROMPT2PWN in Oakland, where researchers can test targets in person.
2 Preparing our next security sprint to harden OpenAI
Open the source archived copy-
OpenAI's post of 2 November says it is planning its next internal security sprint, bringing new researchers and security partners together with its own teams to use its models to test and strengthen its systems.
citeOpenAI November 2, 2026 ... We're planning our next internal security sprint at OpenAI, bringing new researchers and security partners together with our own teams to use our models to test and strengthen our systems.
-
OpenAI says it is partnering with Cathedral, whose researchers will use OpenAI's models alongside OpenAI's teams to challenge its defenses.
citeWe're partnering with Cathedral, whose researchers will use OpenAI's models alongside our teams to challenge our defenses
-
OpenAI's post does not name the models to be used in the next sprint; it refers to its models and its most capable models.
citeto use our models to test and strengthen our systems ... We're using our most capable models to strengthen our own defenses and making them available to Daybreak customers.
-
OpenAI says that in its last sprint it dedicated 25% of its product engineers to finding and fixing weaknesses in its systems.
citeOur last sprint showed what this approach can deliver. We dedicated 25% of our product engineers to finding and fixing weaknesses in our systems.
-
OpenAI says that in the last sprint, engineers used Codex to investigate findings, reproduce vulnerabilities in isolated environments and prepare patches for review.
citeUsing Codex, engineers investigated findings, reproduced vulnerabilities in isolated environments and prepared patches for review.
-
OpenAI says it has committed $1 billion in subsidized access over six months for frontline defenders protecting essential services and digital infrastructure, and is making its most capable models available to Daybreak customers.
citeWe're using our most capable models to strengthen our own defenses and making them available to Daybreak customers. We've committed $1 billion in subsidized access over six months for frontline defenders protecting essential services and digital infrastructure.
Every sentence above is checked against these 2 sources. Each fact has its own address you can cite.
Source 1 · OpenAI · 2 Nov 2026
Rewarding defenders with bigger bug bounties
OpenAI's Security Bug Bounty post of 2 November says it is more than quadrupling, on average, the midpoint of its reward ranges for medium, high and critical findings.
OpenAI November 2, 2026 ... We're more than quadrupling the midpoint of our reward ranges for medium, high, and critical findings on average.
OpenAI says a critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex or the API Platform will now earn up to $30,000.
A critical vulnerability in a core product such as ChatGPT, Codex, or the API Platform will now earn up to $30,000.
OpenAI says exceptional critical findings on those targets remain eligible for up to $100,000, and now up to $172,000 with bonuses.
Exceptional critical findings on those targets remain eligible for up to $100,000, and now up to $172,000 with bonuses.
Show all 10 factsShow fewer facts
OpenAI says high-quality reports will be eligible for a bonus multiplier on the base bounty.
High-quality reports will be eligible to earn a bonus multiplier on the base bounty.
OpenAI says it is introducing a tiered, five-tier loyalty bonus program for researchers.
we are introducing a tiered loyalty bonus program. This 5-tier system provides scaling bonuses to recognize, support, and celebrate researchers who consistently partner with us
OpenAI says priority campaigns will feature dedicated bonus pools for newly launched features.
priority campaigns will feature dedicated bonus pools for newly launched features. These short-term campaigns give researchers early, high-reward opportunities to test new developments
OpenAI says that if a researcher has already submitted a report and not yet been awarded a bounty, the new reward ranges will apply.
If you've already submitted a report and we haven't yet awarded a bounty, we'll apply the new reward ranges.
OpenAI says that for bounties awarded in the 30 days before the announcement, it will pay the difference if the finding would have earned more under the new ranges.
For bounties we awarded in the 30 days before this announcement, we'll pay you the difference if your finding would have earned more under the new ranges (Base Award + Loyalty Awards).
OpenAI gives as an illustrative example a critical one-click account takeover in ChatGPT with a historical award of $6,500 and a new payout of $51,577, calculated as $30,000 x 1.15 quality bonus x 1.30 priority campaign bonus x 1.15 loyalty tier bonus, and says all scenarios and historical awards are illustrative.
Critical - ChatGPT (core asset): One-click account takeover. | $6,500 | $30,000 × 1.15 Quality Bonus × 1.30 Priority Campaign Bonus × 1.15 31337 Loyalty Tier Bonus | $51,577 ... All scenarios and historical awards are illustrative.
OpenAI says its security team will be at PROMPT2PWN in Oakland on 20 and 21 November.
On November 20–21, our security team will be at PROMPT2PWN in Oakland, where researchers can test targets in person.
Source 2 · OpenAI · 2 Nov 2026
Preparing our next security sprint to harden OpenAI
OpenAI's post of 2 November says it is planning its next internal security sprint, bringing new researchers and security partners together with its own teams to use its models to test and strengthen its systems.
OpenAI November 2, 2026 ... We're planning our next internal security sprint at OpenAI, bringing new researchers and security partners together with our own teams to use our models to test and strengthen our systems.
OpenAI says it is partnering with Cathedral, whose researchers will use OpenAI's models alongside OpenAI's teams to challenge its defenses.
We're partnering with Cathedral, whose researchers will use OpenAI's models alongside our teams to challenge our defenses
OpenAI's post does not name the models to be used in the next sprint; it refers to its models and its most capable models.
to use our models to test and strengthen our systems ... We're using our most capable models to strengthen our own defenses and making them available to Daybreak customers.
Show all 6 factsShow fewer facts
OpenAI says that in its last sprint it dedicated 25% of its product engineers to finding and fixing weaknesses in its systems.
Our last sprint showed what this approach can deliver. We dedicated 25% of our product engineers to finding and fixing weaknesses in our systems.
OpenAI says that in the last sprint, engineers used Codex to investigate findings, reproduce vulnerabilities in isolated environments and prepare patches for review.
Using Codex, engineers investigated findings, reproduced vulnerabilities in isolated environments and prepared patches for review.
OpenAI says it has committed $1 billion in subsidized access over six months for frontline defenders protecting essential services and digital infrastructure, and is making its most capable models available to Daybreak customers.
We're using our most capable models to strengthen our own defenses and making them available to Daybreak customers. We've committed $1 billion in subsidized access over six months for frontline defenders protecting essential services and digital infrastructure.
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