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For a security flaw in a PlayStation product or service, start with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s PlayStation Bug Bounty Program on HackerOne—but report there only if the affected asset is included in the program’s current scope. For other Sony assets, use Secure@Sony. Check the live policy before testing or submitting: PlayStation branding alone does not make a device, game, domain, or endpoint eligible.
The short version is to identify who owns the affected asset, read the current program rules, submit a clear and reproducible report through the right channel, and stop testing as soon as you have enough evidence. A report is not permission to probe neighboring systems or publish an exploit. Scope, reward terms, and disclosure rules can change, so rely on the current program page rather than an old announcement.
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Use the PlayStation HackerOne program for eligible PlayStation products, services, or PlayStation Network assets. Use Secure@Sony for Sony products, services, or infrastructure that the PlayStation program does not cover. Sony describes these as separate reporting paths, with the PlayStation program covering certain products rather than every asset bearing the PlayStation name.
| Route | Use it for | Where to submit | Reward expectation |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation Bug Bounty Program | PlayStation assets included in the program’s live scope | PlayStation program page on HackerOne | Check the current program policy and reward table; eligibility and payment are not guaranteed |
| Secure@Sony | Sony assets not covered by the PlayStation program | Secure@Sony | Do not assume a bounty; use the program applicable to the affected asset |
Sony Interactive Entertainment says its PlayStation program applies to certain PlayStation products and that its global security program handles other Sony assets. The PlayStation disclosure page and the current HackerOne policy determine the route and scope. If you are uncertain which organization owns an asset, use Sony’s disclosure guidance rather than assuming that a PlayStation-related hostname or third-party service is Sony-owned.
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The distinction is about asset coverage, not simply where you found the issue. An issue in an eligible PlayStation Network service belongs in the PlayStation route; a vulnerability in another Sony division’s product or infrastructure may belong at Secure@Sony. If the asset is outside PlayStation scope, the general route is not a way to bypass a program exclusion or obtain permission to continue testing. Use the reporting guidance to direct the finding to the appropriate owner.
Sony’s Secure@Sony page says reporters can expect a response within five business days and a status update within 30 business days. The PlayStation disclosure page gives the same general expectation and notes timelines may change or depend on incident-specific considerations. These are response and update targets, not promises that a vulnerability will be fixed, accepted for a bounty, or resolved by a specific date.
How do I check whether a PlayStation vulnerability is in scope?
Read the current program policy and asset list before testing, then check them again before filing. The live page—not an old announcement, a product label, or another researcher’s summary—is the authority for eligible assets, exclusions, testing rules, severity requirements, and rewards.
- Identify the specific product, service, application, endpoint, or infrastructure component affected. Record what you know about ownership without probing unrelated systems to establish it.
- Open the PlayStation program page on HackerOne and review its current scope, exclusions, safe-testing requirements, disclosure policy, and reward information.
- Match the affected asset and issue to the policy. Do not infer that every PlayStation-branded device, firmware component, game, domain, or endpoint is covered.
- If the asset is not included in the PlayStation program, consult Sony’s product-security reporting page and use the general Sony route, Secure@Sony.
Scope can change, and not every PlayStation issue belongs to Sony Interactive Entertainment. Sony’s disclosure page lists multiple PS5 models, but that does not establish that every model or hardware issue qualifies for a bounty. A vulnerability involving a third-party game playable on a PlayStation console may be passed to that game’s publisher for resolution.
When checking scope, distinguish the affected product from the route through which you encountered it. A PlayStation console may connect to third-party game services, payment providers, hosting platforms, or other infrastructure. The fact that a service is reachable from a console, or that an issue appears while playing a game, does not establish that Sony owns or operates the vulnerable component. Do not test a third-party system under Sony’s program unless the current policy clearly authorizes that activity.
PlayStation Network is mentioned in the historical June 24, 2020 launch announcement as part of the public-launch scope, alongside PS4. That is useful context for why PSN reports may be relevant, but it is not a current asset list. Confirm that the particular service and issue are covered by the live policy. Similarly, the current product-security disclosures list multiple PS5 models, but that does not mean every hardware, firmware, or model-specific problem qualifies. The live HackerOne scope and terms control.
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How do I submit a report on HackerOne?
Start from the PlayStation program’s security page and use its Submit Report action. HackerOne’s submission guidance, updated September 14, 2026, describes the form sequence below; the program may also require additional information.
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- Open the PlayStation program page and select Submit Report.
- Select the asset type and the report template offered for the issue.
- Choose the relevant weakness or issue type, then select a severity if the program requires it.
- Write the report and proof of concept, explaining what the vulnerability is, how to reproduce it, and what impact an attacker could have.
- Attach useful evidence, such as sanitized screenshots or a demo video. HackerOne advises attaching video directly rather than making it available through a public link.
- Complete any program-specific additional-information fields, review every detail, and submit. HackerOne says report details cannot be edited after submission, so prepare and check the content before sending.
See HackerOne’s report-submission instructions for current platform guidance. Form labels or program-specific fields may change, so follow what the live report form asks for.
Before you open the form, assemble the essentials in a private working note: the asset identifier, the conditions under which you observed the issue, a short summary, the reproduction sequence, and a safe proof of concept. This helps avoid losing a crucial detail while moving through the form. Do not include credentials, access tokens, private customer information, or other secrets in a report unless the program specifically requires a safe way to handle them; sanitize evidence first.
Choose the asset type and weakness that most accurately describe the finding. If the form offers a report template, use it rather than forcing the issue into an unrelated category. If you are unsure of a severity, explain the demonstrated impact in the report and use the severity field requested by the program. A severity label on its own does not establish the extent of harm, and a high rating should not be used as a substitute for evidence.
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Review the submitted text and every attachment before pressing send. HackerOne’s guidance says report details cannot be edited after submission. If you later notice a factual error or have a useful clarification, use the report’s communication channel to tell the team; do not create a second report just to replace a detail. Keep the report’s discussion in the private program workflow unless the program team directs you elsewhere.
What should a strong PlayStation bug report include?
Give the security team enough precise information to reproduce the issue without guessing, while limiting the demonstration to what proves the flaw. HackerOne’s disclosure guidance calls for clear, concise, reproducible steps or a working proof of concept and says not to include third-party personally identifiable information.
- Title: Identify the affected asset and vulnerability class without overstating impact.
- Summary: Describe the flaw in one or two sentences.
- Impact: Explain what an attacker can actually do, whose account or data may be affected, and whether the issue affects confidentiality, integrity, or availability.
- Prerequisites: State relevant account type, permissions, device, firmware, region, network position, and user interaction requirements.
- Reproduction steps: Number each step and specify the request, endpoint, application state, or device action involved.
- Proof of concept: Include the smallest demonstration that establishes the issue. Avoid accessing data or changing state that is unnecessary to prove it.
- Expected and actual behavior: Make the security boundary violation clear—for example, what should have been inaccessible versus what the demonstrated action permits.
- Evidence: Include appropriately sanitized requests, responses, logs, screenshots, or a directly attached video if they clarify the finding.
- Severity: Select the severity requested by the program and explain the real-world impact rather than relying on a label alone.
- Safety note: State what you deliberately did not access, retain, or alter.
Before submission, remove secrets and third-party personal information from attachments. Keep evidence narrowly relevant: a report should demonstrate the security effect, not expose customer or employee data as proof.
Make the steps operationally precise. Name the device or application state, account type, region, or firmware version when those details affect the result. For a web or API issue, identify the relevant endpoint and include sanitized request and response material where it makes the behavior clear. For an issue requiring a particular action in a console interface, describe the menu path or state transitions in order. Do not assume a triager will know which screen, account role, or setting you mean.
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Separate what you observed from what you infer. For example, state the exact action that succeeded and what resource or account it affected; then explain why that crosses a security boundary. If you believe an attacker could scale the issue or reach additional data, distinguish that potential consequence from what your proof of concept actually demonstrated. This makes the report credible and lets the team assess impact without asking you to conduct riskier tests.
Useful evidence is focused, legible, and safe to retain. Crop or redact unrelated personal details from screenshots. Remove cookies, authorization headers, access tokens, and other secrets from request captures. If a screen recording is necessary, attach the video to the report rather than posting it to a public site. A small, self-contained demonstration is usually more useful than a large archive or an exploit that performs actions beyond the claim.
What testing and disclosure boundaries should I follow?
Stop once you have enough evidence to establish the vulnerability. A finding is not permission to access other people’s information, change production data, or continue into neighboring systems.
- Do not access or retain private customer or employee data beyond what is strictly necessary to confirm the issue; avoid collecting it altogether where possible.
- Do not alter records, permissions, files, or account ownership to demonstrate impact.
- Do not conduct denial-of-service or disruptive load testing unless the current program policy expressly permits it.
- Do not pivot from an affected host, account, or service into unrelated systems.
- Do not treat third-party infrastructure as Sony-owned or test it under Sony’s program without authorization.
- Do not publicly post the vulnerability, proof of concept, screenshots, or exploit details before coordinated disclosure approval.
HackerOne says submitted reports initially remain non-public and requires researchers to follow the applicable program’s disclosure policy. Read the current rules on the HackerOne disclosure-guidelines page and the PlayStation program page; do not assume that reporting alone authorizes public disclosure.
Keep the test narrow even when the potential impact seems serious. If you encounter private data unexpectedly, do not browse, download, or retain more of it; stop and report the minimum facts needed to explain what happened. If confirmation would require changing a real user’s data, taking over an account, or disrupting a service, do not perform that action just to strengthen the report. Describe the boundary you reached and the risk that follows from it, and ask the program team for direction if further validation is needed.
Likewise, do not broaden a test from one affected asset to a related host or service simply because it appears connected. The current program policy defines permitted targets and testing behavior; a vulnerability in a third party’s system needs that owner’s authorization. If a report concerns a third-party game, Sony’s disclosure page says it may be passed to the publisher for remediation. That routing possibility is not permission to probe the publisher’s systems independently.
Coordinated disclosure means giving the responsible team the chance to investigate and address the issue before public release. The report’s initial non-public status does not itself set a publication date or grant permission to disclose. Keep exploit details and evidence confidential while the team handles the report, and follow the current program disclosure policy and any instructions from the program.
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How long does Sony take to respond, and does it pay?
Sony’s published general target is a response within five business days and a status update within 30 business days. Those are expectations, not guaranteed deadlines for resolution or payment; Sony’s disclosure page notes that timelines can change and may depend on incident-specific considerations.
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The current HackerOne public directory labels PlayStation a managed bounty program with a $50 minimum bounty. That directory figure is not a promise that a specific report will be paid or a substitute for the live PlayStation reward table. Confirm the current eligible assets, severity tiers, duplicate-report rules, and maximum awards on the program page before relying on a payout figure.
A report’s outcome depends on whether the asset and issue qualify under the live policy and on the program’s handling of validity, impact, severity, duplicates, and reward eligibility. A technically accurate finding may still not result in a bounty if it falls outside scope or does not meet the current program criteria. Do not assume that submitting a report guarantees acceptance, payment, a particular amount, or a fixed remediation timetable. The current reward page is the only sound basis for estimating what the program may pay.
Do not use the launch announcement as a current payout guide. On June 24, 2020, PlayStation announced that critical PS4 issues had bounties starting at $50,000 and described PS4 and PlayStation Network as the public-launch scope. Those were launch-era terms; they do not establish today’s scope or rewards. For current terms, use the HackerOne public bug bounty directory as a directory signal and the live PlayStation policy for program-specific rules.
If you have not received an update by the published target, remember that it is an expectation rather than a guarantee. Keep communications in the report thread, provide requested clarification there, and avoid escalating by publishing details. Secure@Sony and the PlayStation disclosure page both describe the five-business-day response and 30-business-day status-update expectations; Sony notes that timelines may change and incident circumstances can affect them.
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No. A console is not necessary for every report: web-application, account, and PlayStation Network findings may be testable without owning a console. Sony’s disclosure page lists multiple PS5 models, so eligible product-security issues may involve physical hardware, but ownership of a particular model does not by itself make an issue bounty-eligible. Verify the exact model and issue against the current scope before testing.
For hardware findings, identify the model and relevant configuration in your report if they affect reproducibility. For web, account, or network findings, describe the service and conditions instead. In either case, owning a device does not expand the permitted scope or authorize testing of other users, third-party services, or infrastructure not covered by the current rules.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I report a PlayStation security vulnerability?
For an eligible PlayStation product, service, or PlayStation Network asset, open the PlayStation Bug Bounty Program on HackerOne, read its current policy, and use Submit Report. For other Sony assets, use Secure@Sony. Confirm scope before testing.
Is PlayStation Network included in Sony’s bug bounty?
PlayStation Network appeared in the June 24, 2020 launch announcement, but that historical description is not a current scope list. Check the live PlayStation HackerOne policy to confirm that the specific asset and issue are currently eligible.
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HackerOne’s submission guidance says report details cannot be edited after submission. Use the report’s available communication channel to tell the program team what needs correction or clarification; do not submit a duplicate report just to replace a detail.
Can I use a public video link as proof of concept?
HackerOne advises attaching a demo video directly to the report rather than exposing it through a public link. This avoids making sensitive demonstration material public while the issue is being triaged.
What happens if the bug is in a game made by another publisher?
Sony’s PlayStation disclosure page says reports concerning third-party games playable on PlayStation consoles may be passed to the third party for resolution. The company responsible for the fix may therefore be the game publisher, not Sony Interactive Entertainment.
How long does Sony take to respond to a vulnerability report?
Sony publishes a general expectation of a response within five business days and a status update within 30 business days. These are targets, not guaranteed deadlines, and Sony says timelines may change or be affected by incident-specific considerations.
Can I disclose a PlayStation vulnerability after reporting it?
Do not assume that submitting a report gives permission to publish it. Keep the report, proof of concept, screenshots, and exploit details confidential while Sony investigates, and follow the current PlayStation program disclosure policy and coordinated-disclosure instructions.
Does Sony pay for PlayStation security bugs?
The public HackerOne directory currently labels PlayStation a managed bounty program with a $50 minimum, but that is not a promise of payment for a particular report. Check the live PlayStation policy for scope, reward tiers, duplicate rules, and eligibility.
Do I need to own a PS5 to participate?
No. Some web-application, account, and PlayStation Network issues may be testable without a console. Hardware findings may require access to a relevant model, but owning a PS5 does not by itself make an issue eligible.
The Bottom Line
Use the PlayStation HackerOne program only for assets that its current scope covers; use Secure@Sony for other Sony assets. Read the live rules, submit exact reproduction steps and a safe proof of concept, and stop once you have enough evidence. Sony’s response targets and bounty directory are useful expectations, not guarantees of a fix, acceptance, or payment.
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