Microsoft launched the Xbox Bounty Program on January 30, 2020, inviting gamers and security researchers to report qualifying vulnerabilities in the Xbox Live network and services through the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). Launch coverage listed rewards from $500 to $20,000; Microsoft’s current program page lists awards from $1,250 to $20,000, with the top amount reserved for qualifying, high-impact reports.
What the Xbox Bounty Program is
The Xbox Bounty Program is a responsible-disclosure channel for security vulnerabilities affecting Xbox Live network and services. It is administered through MSRC and is intended for researchers who can demonstrate a real, reproducible security impact—not for reporting ordinary gameplay bugs, moderation disputes, account-support problems, or cosmetic defects.
Microsoft describes the program as a supplement to its internal security development, testing, private research and partner work. The current program remains listed in Microsoft’s bounty-program directory. Its page records the January 30, 2020 launch and a May 13, 2025 update to the research rules.
The controlling scope and eligibility details are on Microsoft’s Xbox Bounty Program page.
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How much Microsoft pays
The current published range is $1,250 to $20,000. Awards are discretionary: severity, exploitability, customer impact, report quality, novelty, duplication and scope all matter. A single submission that qualifies under more than one category receives the single highest applicable award rather than stacked payments. Microsoft says higher awards may be possible at its sole discretion.
| Security impact | Critical: high / medium / low report | Important: high / medium / low report | Moderate | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remote code execution | $20,000 / $15,000 / $10,000 | $15,000 / $10,000 / $6,000 | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Elevation of privilege | $12,000 / $8,000 / $4,000 | $6,000 / $4,000 / $2,000 | $0 | Not applicable |
| Security feature bypass | $12,000 / $8,000 / $4,000 | $6,000 / $4,000 / $2,000 | $0 | Not applicable |
| Information disclosure | $12,000 / $8,000 / $4,000 | $6,000 / $4,000 / $2,000 | $0 | $0 |
| Spoofing | $8,000 / $5,000 / $2,500 | $4,000 / $2,500 / $1,250 | $0 | $0 |
| Tampering | $8,000 / $5,000 / $2,500 | $4,000 / $2,500 / $1,250 | $0 | $0 |
| Denial of service | Out of scope | Out of scope | Out of scope | Out of scope |
This is the current matrix, not the launch-day schedule. Contemporary January 30, 2020 coverage reported a $500 minimum and a $20,000 maximum. The original figures should not be presented as the current minimum; Microsoft now publishes $1,250 as its lowest listed award. See the launch report from BleepingComputer for the historical terms.
What is in scope
The eligible target is specifically the Xbox Live network and services. “Xbox” does not mean every Microsoft gaming product, every Xbox-branded web page, or every console-related issue.
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What Microsoft excludes
The Xbox page excludes vulnerabilities in Mixer, Game Pass, xCloud, Xbox.com, Microsoft game studios and their individual sites, third-party sites, marketing sites, training and documentation sites, sample sites and community forums.
Other listed exclusions include fraud issues, denial-of-service vulnerabilities, low-impact cross-site request forgery, URL redirects unless chained to a more serious vulnerability, cookie replay and findings that depend on user-created content or extensive, unlikely user actions. A third-party component or site is not automatically eligible simply because it appears in an Xbox-related workflow. Microsoft may review an issue under another policy, but researchers should not assume that an out-of-scope Xbox finding qualifies elsewhere.
What a qualifying report must contain
- A new issue: the vulnerability must be previously unreported to Microsoft and not a known duplicate.
- Current testing: reproduce it on the latest fully patched version of the in-scope Xbox Live service at submission time.
- Exact reproduction: provide clear, concise steps, including prerequisites, account roles, permissions and affected versions.
- Proof of impact: include a working proof of concept or equivalent evidence showing what an attacker can actually do.
- Correct submission route: submit through the MSRC Researcher Portal.
- Safe handling: follow Microsoft’s bounty guidelines, Rules of Engagement, coordinated-disclosure process and safe-harbor conditions.
A scanner result, outdated library or theoretical weakness is not enough without demonstrating exploitability and a meaningful security effect on the specified service. Reports should avoid unnecessary access to other users’ data, service disruption, production-impacting tests and public disclosure before Microsoft has had an opportunity to investigate.
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Examples reported at launch
January 2020 coverage cited cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery, insecure direct object references, insecure deserialization, injection, server-side code execution, significant security misconfiguration not caused by the user and exploitable vulnerable third-party components. Those were launch-era examples, not an exhaustive current eligibility list; the current Microsoft page controls.
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A physical Xbox console was described in contemporary launch coverage as helpful rather than mandatory. Access to an Xbox Live account or other paid services could help a researcher test particular flows, but Microsoft did not promise hardware, subscriptions or universal access to every service. The current rules should be checked for the service being tested.
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What happens after submission?
Microsoft evaluates each report at its discretion. A valid technical report may be investigated and fixed without receiving cash. A bounty-eligible report may receive an award based on the published matrix, while a duplicate, known, excluded or low-impact finding may receive no payment. Microsoft also says a submission that does not qualify for a bounty may still receive public acknowledgment if it leads to a vulnerability fix.
That means three outcomes are distinct: a report can be technically valid, bounty-eligible, or publicly acknowledged; none of those statuses is automatic.
Practical checklist for researchers
- Read the current Xbox scope and exclusions before testing.
- Confirm that the affected endpoint or service is Xbox Live network and services, not Game Pass, xCloud, Xbox.com or a third-party site.
- Use test accounts and the minimum permissions needed to reproduce the issue.
- Record exact requests, responses, timestamps, versions, prerequisites and expected versus actual behavior.
- Demonstrate realistic security impact without disrupting service or accessing unrelated customer data.
- Submit through MSRC and keep the finding private while Microsoft handles coordinated disclosure.
Why the 2020 announcement still causes confusion
Headlines about “hacking Xbox” obscure the program’s narrow target and technical reporting bar. They also commonly repeat the launch-era $500 minimum as though it were current, or imply that every Xbox product is covered. The active Microsoft page establishes the present scope and $1,250 minimum, while the $500 figure belongs to the January 2020 launch terms.
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