Outlook bug bounty payout increases to $400,000, but only for a limited time

Zerodium, an exploit acquisition platform, has increased its payout for Microsoft Outlook zero-click remote code executions (RCEs) from $250,000 to $400,000. The increase is a temporary measure to obtain zero-click exploits that can attack PCs and networks without requiring user interaction. Zerodium outlines the change on its limited-time bug bounties page.

Some attacks, such as phishing scams, require people to interact with an attack like opening an email or email attachment. Zero-click exploits do not require interaction, making them more dangerous.

"We are temporarily increasing our payout for Microsoft Outlook RCEs from $250,000 to $400,000," explains Zerodium. "We are looking for zero-click exploits leading to remote code execution when receiving/downloading emails in Outlook, without requiring any user interaction such as reading the malicious email message or opening an attachment. Exploits relying on opening/reading an email may be acquired for a lower reward."

Zerodium specializes in zero-day exploits and security research. Its customers are government institutions that are primarily in North America and Europe.

The increased payout for Microsoft Outlook zero-click RCEs began on January 27, 2022, but does not have a definitive end date.

Microsoft also has a list of bounty payouts ranging up to $250,000. Microsoft paid $13.6 million for bug bounties between July 2020 and July 2021.

You can compare Microsoft's bug bounty payouts to those of Zerodium to see how the companies compare. The value of bounties varies dramatically based on the severity of the discovered vulnerability.