How to Start a Responsible Disclosure Page and Small Bug Bounty for Your Self‑Hosted App

Start here: why your self-hosted project needs a responsible disclosure page (and how to do it cheaply)

Pain point: you run a self‑hosted app, you want to invite security researchers to report bugs without getting spammed, sued, or overwhelmed — and you don’t have a corporate security budget. This guide gives you an operational plan, legal-safe templates, a triage workflow, and low-cost bug bounty options so small teams can run a trustworthy disclosure program in 2026.

Executive summary — what to publish today

Most important first: publish three things on your website and in your code repo right now.

1. A concise Responsible Disclosure page (public URL linked from your footer and README).
2. security.txt at /.well-known/security.txt that points to your contact, PGP key, and policy.
3. Simple reward tiers and an acknowledgment policy (you can start with free swag and small cash rewards).

Below you’ll find ready-to-paste templates, legal language, triage workflows, and practical advice for handling CVEs, public disclosure coordination, and rewards without breaking the bank.

Why now? 2026 trends that affect disclosure programs

Security disclosure norms changed significantly through late 2024–2025 and into 2026:

• More open-source projects and small vendors are adopting coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) and using machine-friendly formats (security.txt, GitHub Advisory, OSV).
• Free tooling for triage and advisories (GitHub Security Advisories, OSV.dev) reduced the barrier to issuing canonical advisories and requesting CVEs.
• Regulatory pressure (e.g., NIS2 and other laws) has made documented response and reporting practices more important for deployers of critical services.
• Community-first programs — small bounties, swag, hall-of-fame — became common because they balance incentives and cost for small teams.

What a Responsible Disclosure page should include (straightforward template)

Keep it short and actionable. Paste this into your site or repo as a starting point and customize the scope and contact details.

<!-- Responsible disclosure page template -->

Overview
We appreciate responsible security research. Please review this page before reporting vulnerabilities.

Contact
- Email: security@example.com
- PGP: https://example.com/pgp.pub
- security.txt: https://example.com/.well-known/security.txt

Scope
In-scope: web app (api.example.com), admin console (admin.example.com), server-side components
Out-of-scope: client-side UI bugs that don’t affect security, spam, social engineering

Safe testing
Do not perform destructive testing. Do not access or exfiltrate user data (even to prove a bug). If proof requires data access, describe steps and coordinate first.

Acknowledgements & rewards
We acknowledge all valid reports within git history and list contributors. Small cash rewards available (see reward tiers).

Legal
We cannot offer blanket authorization to break laws. This policy provides a limited good-faith safe harbor for non-destructive research consistent with our guidelines. It is not legal advice.

Report format
- Summary
- Steps to reproduce
- Impact and exploitability
- Suggested mitigations
- Proof of concept (no user data)

Response timeline
We will acknowledge receipts within 48 hours, provide initial triage in 7 days, and a remediation plan within 30 days for critical issues.

security.txt: the machine-readable minimum

security.txt is now widely consumed by scanners and automated workflows. Publish this simple file at /.well-known/security.txt:

Contact: mailto:security@example.com
Encryption: https://example.com/pgp.pub
Acknowledgements: https://example.com/security/acknowledgements
Policy: https://example.com/security/disclosure
Preferred-Languages: en
Canonical: https://example.com/.well-known/security.txt

Legal template & safe-harbor language (use with counsel)

Small teams must carefully balance inviting researchers and staying within the law. The following limited language helps reduce legal risk, but it is not a substitute for legal advice.

<!-- Limited safe-harbor language (not legal advice) -->

We appreciate good-faith security research and will not pursue legal action against researchers who act in accordance with this policy.

Good-faith research means:
- Testing limited to in-scope assets listed on this page.
- No destruction or exfiltration of user data; if data access is required, contact us first.
- No social engineering or physical attacks.
- Immediate notification when a vulnerability is found and cooperative engagement on remediation and disclosure.

This policy does not provide authorization to violate local, state, national, or international laws. We reserve the right to take action if the research exceeds the scope or causes harm.

Designing reward tiers that fit a small budget

Large programs like Hytale or major vendors pay tens of thousands, but most self-hosted projects should start small and scale. Reward tiers should reflect impact, not spammy reports.

• Tier 0 — Acknowledgement (free): For low-impact valid reports. Provide public acknowledgement on a contributors page.
• Tier 1 — Basic bounty ($25–$100): For privilege escalation checks, SSRF with limited impact, or authenticated RCE without data access.
• Tier 2 — Substantial bounty ($200–$1,000): For unauthenticated RCE, mass data exposure, or account takeover affecting multiple users.
• Tier 3 — Critical bounty (case-by-case): For catastrophic issues. You can commit a cap (e.g., up to $5,000) or offer public recognition and coordination with an external funder or sponsor.

Options for low-cost payouts:

• PayPal/Stripe payments for verified researchers.
• Gift cards, cloud credits, or Swag + Hall-of-Fame for budget-constrained projects.
• Partner with a sponsor (company, foundation, or community donations) to fund critical-bounty payouts.

Triage workflow for small teams (practical, step-by-step)

A simple SLA-driven triage process keeps reports transparent and manageable. Use existing tools (issue tracker, private repo, labels) and a shared inbox.

1. Initial intake (0–48 hours)
   • Acknowledge receipt via email and provide expected timelines.
   • Assign a unique case ID (e.g., SEC-2026-001) and create a private issue in your tracker.
2. Pre-triage (48–7 days)
   • Validate reproduction steps and confirm scope.
   • If more info needed, request PoC details but do not ask for or accept exfiltrated user data.
3. Full triage & risk assessment (7–14 days)
   • Map to CVSSv4 (or CVSSv3.1 if still used) and produce a severity label: Low/Medium/High/Critical.
   • Decide on CVE filing if applicable. For many open-source components, use OSV.dev or GitHub Advisory to publish an advisory and request a CVE via a CNA.
4. Remediation & disclosure plan (14–90 days)
   • Patch, test, and schedule rollouts. For critical vulnerabilities, consider hotfixes and emergency releases.
   • Coordinate embargo length with reporter and, if needed, other affected vendors.
5. Public advisory & rewards (post-fix)
   • Publish an advisory with impact summary, steps, and CVE/OSV identifiers when available.
   • Issue reward, acknowledgement, and hall-of-fame entry.

Tooling and labels

Use labels such as security/triage, security/confirmed, security/fix-in-progress, and security/advisory-published. Keep private issues for active investigations; publish a sanitized advisory afterward.

How to handle CVE and advisory coordination

Small teams often think CVE issuance is expensive or complex. In 2026 there are practical routes:

• Use your project's CNA (if you are a CNA) or request a CVE via a third-party CNA. GitHub and other vendors will accept advisory submissions and help with CVE when appropriate.
• Publish an advisory in OSV.dev or GitHub Advisory database. OSV provides a portable record consumable by ecosystems like Dependabot.
• Coordinate with the reporter: agree on embargo and disclosure timeline before requesting CVE or pushing the advisory live.

Communication templates

Short, templated responses save time and reduce friction. Use these core messages.

Acknowledgement email (48 hr)

Subject: [SEC-####] Acknowledgement of vulnerability report

Thanks — we received your report (ID SEC-####). We will acknowledge public details once validated. Expected: triage within 7 days. If your contact details change, please let us know.

Request for more info

Subject: [SEC-####] More info needed to reproduce

Thanks for the report. We need the following to reproduce:
- Complete steps (URLs, payloads) — do not include real user data
- Environment details (version, OS, config)

Please share a minimal PoC that demonstrates the behavior without exfiltrating production user data.

Post-fix acknowledgement & reward

Subject: [SEC-####] Issue fixed — thank you

We fixed the issue in release vX.Y.Z. Your report is eligible for a reward: [amount/method]. Please confirm payment details and we will process within 14 days. We will publish an advisory on [date].

Operational security: protect user data during triage

Self-hosted apps often store user-owned data; treat it as sensitive in triage:

• Do not request or permit submission of production data. If a PoC requires data, ask for synthetic examples or coordinate a safe test account.
• Store report attachments in encrypted storage and restrict access to a small response team.
• Redact PII when creating public advisories.

Policies to explicitly opt-out (what you should forbid)

Make clear what is not allowed — this reduces risky tests and legal ambiguity.

• Do not perform social-engineering or physical attacks.
• No DDoS or load-testing that might degrade service.
• No attempts to access payment processors or third-party services through us.

Budgeting and stretching dollars: real strategies

Small teams can run an effective program with modest funds. Practical ideas:

• Keep a small bounty pool (e.g., $1,000/year) and use tiers to ration payouts.
• Offer non-monetary rewards: project swag, priority support, conference tickets, or co-authorship on advisories.
• Use community-sourced funding, GitHub Sponsors, or a sponsoring organization to underwrite payouts for critical bugs.

Case study (compact): a self-hosted file sync project

Example: The SyncBox team (3 devs, hobby budget) deployed a responsible disclosure page and a $1,200 annual bounty fund in 2025. Their approach:

• Published security.txt, disclosure page, and a PGP key.
• Used GitHub Security Advisories to publish fixes and request CVEs through GitHub's CNA.
• Paid small rewards ($50–$500) and gave swag for lower-severity reports; kept a public acknowledgements page to encourage reporting. Result: two critical bugs responsibly disclosed and fixed in under 10 days each, no legal friction, and several helpful low-cost contributions from the community.

Disclosure etiquette & embargo best practices

Handle disclosure ethically and transparently:

• Agree on an embargo with the reporter. Common windows: 7–90 days depending on severity and complexity.
• If the reporter goes public early, respond with a factual advisory and mitigation guidance.
• When coordinating across vendors, create a shared timeline and a single point of contact to reduce confusion.

Good disclosure is about trust and predictability: researchers want to be heard and credited, your users want swift remediation, and regulators want documented processes.

When to escalate: red flags for legal or public-relations attention

Escalate to management or legal counsel if you encounter:

• Threats or extortion attempts tied to vulnerability disclosure.
• Proof-of-concept that involves mass user data exposure or theft.
• Cross-border legal complications — researchers in different jurisdictions can create complex legal questions.

Checklist: minimum publishable program (10 minutes to deploy)

1. Publish security.txt at /.well-known/.
2. Create a one‑page Responsible Disclosure URL and link it in README/footer.
3. Provide a contact email and PGP key.
4. Declare scope and testing rules (what’s in/out of scope).
5. Set a simple triage SLA (48hr ack, 7–14 day triage).
6. Announce reward approach (even “swag + acknowledgements”).

Advanced strategies for 2026 and beyond

As your project grows, adopt automation and integration:

• Integrate reporting with your issue tracker API and automated templates to create private tickets.
• Automate advisory publication via GitHub Actions that hide sensitive data and generate OSV entries.
• Use dependency scanning and automated patch pipelines so fixes can be rolled out in hours, not weeks.

Final actionable takeaways

• Publish a minimal disclosure page and security.txt today. The visibility alone reduces accidental noisy reports and signals you’re serious.
• Define scope and safe-testing rules. That prevents boundary confusion and risky testing on production user data.
• Start a small bounty fund or offer non-monetary rewards. Even modest incentives improve both quality and volume of reports.
• Implement a simple SLA-driven triage workflow. Acknowledge within 48 hours and triage within 7–14 days for predictable outcomes.
• Coordinate CVE/advisory publication through OSV/GitHub if applicable. That helps downstream consumers patch faster.

Call to action

Ready to publish your disclosure program? Use the templates above, adapt the triage workflow, and start with a small bounty pool this quarter. If you want a customized disclosure page, triage checklist, or legal-ready phrasing tailored to your stack (Docker/Kubernetes/self-hosted appliances), reach out to our team or open a request in your project repo and we’ll help you craft a launch-ready policy.

Related Reading

• Security best practices with Mongoose.Cloud
• Patch Governance: policies to avoid malicious or faulty updates
• TitanVault Pro and secure workflows for attachments
• Protecting client privacy when using AI tools
• Roborock F25 Ultra Deep Dive: Is a Wet-Dry Vac Robot Right for Your Home?
• Turn a Villa Into a Mini Studio: Lessons From Vice Media’s Production Pivot
• Pet Lighting: How Color and Light Cycles Affect Indoor Cats and Dogs
• Weekly Best-Sellers: Top 10 Home Warmers (Hot-Water Bottles, Heated Throws, Microwavables)
• Hybrid Recovery & Micro‑Periodization for Yoga Athletes in 2026: Sequencing, Load and Recovery Tech