Google adds new $250,000 Cloud VRP reward for Root-in-Cloud bugs

Google has expanded its Cloud Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP) with a new top-tier reward for high-impact architectural security flaws. Starting this month, researchers can earn $250,000 for Root-in-Cloud bugs, including tenant-isolation bypasses and complex cross-service logic flaws that allow attackers to gain full administrative control over arbitrary Google Cloud organizations. Chris Betz, Google Cloud's Chief Information Security Officer, outlined the qualification bar for the premier reward in a statement published alongside the announcement. "To earn this premier reward, you must demonstrate full administrative control, the equivalent of 'roles/owner' or complete IAM control, over arbitrary Google Cloud organizations or projects with no prior access or special project setup," Betz said. Betz added that valid vulnerability reports demonstrating remote code execution in Google's underlying production infrastructure, known as Borg, or achieving root-in-prod will automatically be evaluated by the Google Cloud VRP panel for root-in-cloud eligibility. Not every exploit will qualify. To be eligible for the reward, researchers must demonstrate their findings without relying on prior access to the victim project, compromised credentials, social engineering, or user interaction. Google also imposed strict limits on how far researchers may go if they achieve execution on the company's production infrastructure. Researchers must stop probing at that point, as escalating access, obtaining production credentials, or lateral movement are not permitted and will result in disqualification. "High incentives require clear, safe rules of engagement. We never want researchers testing exploits against real customer projects," said Cloud VRP Lead Michael Cote. "Instead, we created a deterministic proof-of-root mechanism using a designated service account. Researchers can cryptographically prove unauthorized access against that identity." More details on the Google Cloud VRP, including endpoint specifications, JSON payloads, and CLI examples, are available on the program's rules page. The announcement follows Google's decision in October to suspend submissions to its Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards Program after a flood of AI-generated reports. Google has paid thousands of security researchers worldwide more than $81.6 million since launching its first Vulnerability Reward Program in 2010. In 2025, the company awarded a record-breaking $17.1 million to over 700 security researchers, a 40 percent increase from 2024, when it awarded $12 million in total.