Bounty Severity Classification
Introduction
At Cantina, we prioritize the security and integrity of our ecosystem. This Severity Classification System provides a standardized framework for evaluating and categorizing vulnerabilities based on their impact and likelihood of exploitation. This system is designed to ensure consistency and transparency in assessing risks across our programs. Note: This bounty severity classification serves as a general guide and may be customized based on individual client requirements. Some bug bounty programs may define their own severity criteria, so please review the respective program's home page carefully
Severity Levels
We classify vulnerabilities in four distinct levels based on their impact and likelihood of exploitation. The severity of a vulnerability is determined by combining these two factors using the Risk Classification Matrix below:
Severity Level
Impact: Critical
Impact: High
Impact: Medium
Impact: Low
Likelihood: High
Critical
High
Medium
Low
Likelihood: Medium
High
High
Medium
Low
Likelihood: Low
Medium
Medium
Low
Informational
1. Critical
Impact: Catastrophic damage to the protocol or its users.
Examples include severe loss of assets, permanent system disruption, or widespread compromise.
Likelihood: High, with minimal or no user interaction required.
Exploitation is very easy or highly incentivized.
Examples:
Permanent loss or freezing of assets.
Network-wide shutdown or inability to confirm transactions.
Unintended permanent chain splits requiring a hard fork.
Protocol insolvency or governance manipulation leading to direct financial harm.
Web2: Account takeover with significant impact (e.g., admin account compromise).
2. High
Impact: Significant damage to the protocol or its users, but not catastrophic.
Examples include notable financial loss or significant harm to user trust.
Likelihood: Medium to high, with some user interaction or specific conditions required.
Exploitation is possible under certain conditions.
Examples:
Temporary freezing of assets or transactions.
Unintended chain splits (network partitions).
Theft of unclaimed yield or royalties.
Exploits requiring elevated privileges but with high impact.
Web2: Account takeover with moderate impact (e.g., user account compromise).
3. Medium
Impact: Moderate damage, often limited to specific users or conditions.
Examples include limited financial damage or moderate system impact.
Likelihood: Medium, requiring specific conditions or user interaction.
Exploitation is possible but not trivial.
Examples:
Increased resource consumption or temporary disruption of network nodes.
Theft of gas or griefing attacks with no direct profit motive.
Bugs causing unintended smart contract behavior without direct financial risk.
Web2: Non-sensitive data disclosure, open redirects, or reflected HTML injection.
4. Low
Impact: Minor damage, often limited to non-critical functionality.
Examples include minimal direct risk or areas for improvement.
Likelihood: Low, requiring significant user interaction or unlikely conditions.
Exploitation is difficult or requires highly specific conditions.
Examples:
Shutdown of a small percentage of network nodes without network-wide impact.
Modification of transaction fees outside design parameters.
Non-critical UI/UX issues or minor information disclosure.
Web2: Minor UI/UX issues or non-critical functionality disruptions.
Scope and Considerations
Blockchain
Critical: Network-wide issues, permanent asset loss, or hard fork requirements.
High: Temporary network disruptions or unintended chain splits.
Medium: Resource consumption spikes or localized node shutdowns.
Low: Minor node disruptions or fee modifications.
Smart Contracts
Critical: Direct theft, permanent freezing of assets, or governance manipulation.
High: Theft of unclaimed yield, temporary freezing of assets, or unauthorized minting.
Medium: Griefing, gas theft, or unbounded gas consumption.
Low: Non-critical contract behavior or minor functionality issues.
Websites and Apps
Critical: Remote code execution, unauthorized access to sensitive data, or significant financial harm.
High: Sensitive data disclosure, subdomain takeovers (case-by-case basis), or unauthorized actions.
Medium: Non-sensitive data disclosure, open redirects, or reflected HTML injection.
Low: Minor UI/UX issues or non-critical functionality disruptions.
Out of Scope
The following are considered out of scope for our vulnerability classification system:
Theoretical vulnerabilities without proof of concept.
Social engineering attacks or phishing.
Issues requiring physical access to a user's device or local network.
Best practice recommendations or feature requests.
Third-party integrations or dependencies not under our control.
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks without demonstrated impact.
Self-XSS or non-exploitable UI/UX issues.
Clickjacking on pages with no sensitive actions.
Server Information & Status Pages (e.g., stack traces, descriptive error messages).
SSL/TLS best practices (e.g., missing SSL Pinning, insecure configurations).
Optional email security features (e.g., SPF/DKIM/DMARC configurations).
Most issues related to rate limiting.
Content-Security-Policy configuration opinions.
Verbose error messages without proof of exploitability.
Attacks requiring MITM or physical access to a user's device.
Reports from automated tools or scans.
Missing HTTP Only flags on non-sensitive cookies.
Content spoofing, text injection.
Issues without clearly identified security impact.
Self-exploitation (e.g., self-XSS, self-DoS, cookie reuse).
Tabnabbing.
Brute forcing account credentials.
Known vulnerable libraries without a working Proof of Concept.
Open access to publicly-exposed resources (e.g., Google Sheets) without demonstration of vulnerability exploitation.
Testing Guidelines
To ensure safe and responsible testing:
Use local forks for testing instead of public chains.
Avoid actions that could disrupt network availability or integrity.
Do not attempt to access, modify, or destroy data that does not belong to you.
Submit detailed reports with proof of concept and steps to reproduce the vulnerability.
Eligibility
To qualify for consideration:
Report a previously unknown, non-public vulnerability within the program's scope.
Be the first to disclose the vulnerability.
Provide sufficient information for our team to reproduce and resolve the issue.
Avoid exploiting the vulnerability or making it public.
Comply with all program rules and guidelines.
Prohibited Actions
The following actions are strictly prohibited:
Testing on public mainnet or testnet deployments.
Public disclosure of vulnerabilities without prior consent.
Engaging in illegal activities or coercive tactics.
Exploiting vulnerabilities for personal gain.
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