How a Simple Google Dork Earned Me My First Bounty from Bugcrowd’s Own Bug Bounty Program

Every Hunter remembers their first bounty. After grinding through endless reports, dodging duplicates, and staring down the dreaded N/A status, getting that first financial win is the ultimate validation.

My first bounty didn't come from a complex bug. Instead, it came down to thinking outside the box, a simple Google Dork, and pure curiosity. Here's the story of how I found a highly sensitive, private bug bounty report sitting completely exposed on the public internet and how reporting it directly to Bugcrowd snagged me my first Bounty.

The Initial Step: Hitting a Wall Like many researchers, I was looking for ways to find exposed sensitive information without heavily scanning infrastructure. I decided to utilize Google Dorks targeting document-sharing sites.My initial approach was straight forward:

site:scribd.com "example.com"

Using this dork, I found several valid, exposed emails and passwords belonging to users of various target companies. I quickly drafted and submitted reports for them.However, they were all closed as N/A (Not Applicable). The triage teams explained that because the data was exposed by third parties or the users themselves and not due to a vulnerability on the company's own infrastructure.It was out of scope.It was frustrating, but it sparked a new idea.

The Pivot: Targeting the Platforms If companies aren't responsible for what third parties upload to Scribd, what happens if the bug bounty platforms themselves (or their clients) accidentally leak something? I decided to change my dorking strategy. Instead of looking for target companies, I started dorking for the bug bounty platforms directly to see if any private vulnerability reports had slipped into the public domain.I tested almost all the major platforms. Nothing.

Then, I started testing Bugcrowd.

The Discovery: A Publicly Accessible Private Report After some digging, I stumbled upon a document that made my jaw drop. It was a fully detailed, unredacted, and exposed bug bounty report belonging to one of Bugcrowd's enterprise customers.The exposed document contained:

1.The full details of a live vulnerability on example.com.

2.The researcher's original submission and technical reproduction steps.

3.Internal messages from Bugcrowd triagers.

4.Private communications from the customer's security team.

5.Mentions of 8 other submissions tied to the same leaked secret.

Using only the data exposed in that document, I was able to fully reproduce the vulnerability. This wasn't just low-hanging fruit; it was a massive breach of confidentiality and responsible disclosure.

Reporting the Issue I immediately reported this to Bugcrowd's own bug bounty program. I detailed the business impact: live secrets were exposed, internal communications were leaked, and the vulnerability was fully reproducible by an unauthorized third party (me).

The Triage Process The process was a bit of a rollercoaster:

The Takedown: Shortly after my report, the customer initiated a legal takedown, and the document was removed from Scribd.

The Severity Debate: Bugcrowd initially triaged the bug as a P4. I respectfully pushed back, arguing that according to their own VRT (Vulnerability Rating Taxonomy), the public exposure of live secrets and internal data should classify as a P1 or P2.

The Resolution: Bugcrowd clarified that the exposure was caused by the customer, not by Bugcrowd themselves. However, because my notification allowed them to take immediate action and secure the data, they accepted the report as a gesture of appreciation.

Note: I did request to publicly disclose this report but the request was rejected due to the sensitive nature of the data.

The Reward A few days later, the status changed to Resolved, and I was awarded a $500 bounty!

Sometimes, bugs aren't found by sending thousands of automated payloads. Sometimes, they are found by simply asking, "What if I search for this instead?"

Thank you for reading my first write-up!.I am still learning, so I appreciate any feedback. Happy hunting!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artanvir76/

X (Twitter): MD Akhlakur Rahman Tanvir