Security News > 2020 > July > Facebook Offering Big Rewards for Vulnerabilities in Hermes, Spark AR
Facebook announced on Friday that it's offering significant rewards through its bug bounty program for vulnerabilities found in Hermes and Spark AR. Hermes is a JavaScript engine that Facebook released as open source one year ago.
Hermes is used by the social media giant's React Native apps for Android and other software, including Spark AR, an augmented reality platform that is used to create effects on Facebook, Instagram and even on Facebook's Portal smart displays.
Vulnerabilities found in native Facebook code have been covered by its bug bounty program, but the company says it wants to encourage security researchers to analyze Hermes and Spark AR, which is why it has significantly increased bug bounties.
A white hat hacker can earn $25,000 if they report a vulnerability or an exploit chain that allows remote code execution when running a Spark AR effect.
The exploit can target either the Spark AR platform directly or the Hermes JavaScript VM. "The amount may be adjusted depending on the particular bug and exploit. For example, an exploit chain missing an ASLR bypass may result in a slightly lower payout. Similarly, an out-of-bounds write where there isn't a clear path to RCE will receive a lower payout," Facebook explained.