Ensuring the safety and integrity of the Etsy platform is a collaborative effort. Sellers like you play a crucial role in this process by identifying and reporting security vulnerabilities. A well-crafted bug report not only enhances our ability to swiftly address potential issues but may also qualify for recognition and rewards through our bug bounty program.

Bug Bounty Program Insights

As the heart of unique and creative goods, Etsy is more than just an online marketplace; it’s a global community where millions engage in the exchange of handmade and vintage items. It’s a platform that not only fosters creativity but also supports sellers with robust tools and services to grow their businesses. Keeping true to its mission, Etsy focuses on “Keeping Commerce Human” by ensuring that every transaction is personal and secure.

Since its inception in 2012, Etsy has recognized the importance of cybersecurity. The proactive approach taken through their bug bounty program highlights their commitment to maintaining a safe environment for all users—buyers and sellers alike. Rewarding those who adhere to responsible disclosure principles reflects industry best practices and reinforces trust within the ecosystem.

Adherence to Program Rules

Etsy’s bug bounty initiative aligns with Bugcrowd’s standard disclosure terms, setting clear expectations for ethical conduct and responsible reporting. It is important that all participants familiarize themselves with these terms to ensure a smooth and cooperative engagement with the program.

For operational issues such as broken credentials, problems accessing applications, or difficulties with Bugcrowd Ninja email services, researchers are instructed to reach out through the Bugcrowd Support Portal. Etsy prioritizes addressing these concerns promptly to minimize disruptions to the testing process.

Creating Your Testing Account

Researchers interested in contributing should note that testing accounts must be created using an @bugcrowdninja.com email address. This measure helps manage test activities within prescribed guidelines while allowing for prompt identification and resolution of any issues encountered during testing.

Key Focus Areas for Bug Hunting

The primary focus of the program lies within Etsy’s mobile & web applications—integral tools utilized by both customers and sellers daily—as well as developer APIs and portals:

• Uncovering unauthenticated access to user accounts or information, particularly PII (Personally Identifiable Information), is paramount.
• Investigating any potential vulnerabilities within developer APIs is also highly encouraged.

Adherence to Testing Guidelines

As Etsy upholds its mission to keep commerce human, it also emphasizes the importance of conducting security testing responsibly. To align with this ethos, the following guidelines are put in place for researchers participating in Etsy’s bug bounty program:

• Shop and Seller Settings: Researchers must register an account and complete the seller onboarding to engage in testing. Once registered, they should set their shop to developer mode by visiting Etsy’s developer portal. This ensures that any test listings or shop activity remains invisible in Etsy’s search results and does not interfere with live user experiences.
• Account and Transaction Limitations: To minimize system strain and maintain the integrity of Etsy’s live environment, researchers are asked to refrain from creating an excessive number of accounts. Additionally, when conducting test transactions, it is recommended to keep monetary values low (around $1) to avoid triggering fraud protection measures unnecessarily.
• Communication Testing: If testing involves Etsy’s messaging system—known as convos—participants should only use dedicated test accounts for this purpose and must not contact legitimate site members.
• Scanning Etiquette: Site-wide scanners can be disruptive; therefore, researchers are encouraged to use targeted scanning tools that do not impact the production environment negatively.
• Specific Guidelines for Payment Testing: Automated scanning tools must be used judiciously across the board but are strictly prohibited when assessing etsypayments.com due to their potential impact on critical payment infrastructure.
• Procedures for Account Freezes: It is recognized that sometimes security measures may result in account freezes during testing. Should this occur, researchers are instructed to contact support at support@bugcrowd.com for resolution.

Understanding Out-of-Scope Activities:

To maintain focus on securing key areas of its platform, Etsy has delineated several out-of-scope activities which include but are not limited to:

• DoS/DDoS attacks.
• Interacting with third-party systems or solutions not managed by Etsy.
• Spamming or mass distribution tactics.
• Inappropriate handling of user data or accounts.
• Using customer support channels for bug bounty program communications – these queries should go directly through Bugcrowd support at support@bugcrowd.com.

Additionally, vulnerabilities found on blog.etsy.com will have different payout policies given its separation from core marketplace functionalities

Ethical Testing in Production Environments

It’s crucial for researchers to recognize that they are operating in a production environment. This means that while discovering bugs is important, it must be done without compromising infrastructure integrity or customer experience:

• Avoid any behavior that could harm Etsy’s infrastructure or interact with other customers.
• Do not attempt unauthorized access or manipulation of accounts you do not own.

Scope of Rewards

Etsy’s program underscores that while all valid security findings are valued, not all will qualify for financial or point-based rewards. Specifically, submissions categorized under P5—Informational findings—do not warrant monetary compensation. Researchers can reference Bugcrowd’s Vulnerability Rating Taxonomy (VRT) for clarity on the classification of vulnerabilities and their corresponding reward tiers

How to Effectively Communicate a Security Concern

Before diving into the specifics of your discovery, it’s essential to have an active account on Etsy. If you haven’t already, please sign up for an Etsy account. This step is critical as it allows us to maintain open communication with you and monitor your testing activities for validity.

Documenting Your Discovery

When submitting details about a security bug, please include:

• A Clear Title: Choose a title that succinctly reflects the nature of the issue.
• A Detailed Summary: Provide an unambiguous description of the problem.
• Reproduction Steps: List out clear steps that one can follow to replicate the issue.
• Potential Impact Analysis: Describe what could potentially happen if an attacker exploited this vulnerability.

For instance, imagine uncovering a flaw that permits cross-site scripting (XSS) during profile updates—an area normally reserved for plaintext inputs with no input validation from the server. Picture a scenario where browsing someone’s profile triggers an AJAX call that displays information without sanitization, leading to session cookie exposure via XSS insertion in their profile. For such findings, your report title might be “Profile Update API Allows Cross-Site Scripting”.

Reproducing Security Issues

Thoroughly replicating a security issue is pivotal for the Etsy team to confirm its authenticity and determine eligibility for our bug bounty program. Let’s continue with the cross-site scripting example to illustrate how you should document the reproduction process. To ensure that we can effectively assess the reported vulnerability, follow these detailed steps to reproduce the issue:

1. Log into your established Etsy account.
2. Navigate directly to your profile settings by accessing Your Profile on Etsy.
3. Initiate an intercepting proxy session.
4. While using the proxy, execute a POST request on your profile page and intercept this request:

• Modify the “about” field in the POST request data, injecting a cross-site scripting script. After modification, let this tainted request proceed.
• Observe that your profile edit page now displays your XSS payload visibly.
• For further confirmation of impact, log out and sign back into Etsy as a different user. Visit https://www.etsy.com/people/[username], replacing [username] with that of the initial account tested. By sending us specific URLs and parameters used during your testing—like /your/profile and details about manipulated fields such as “about”—you significantly aid our efforts in duplicating and scrutinizing your findings.

While tools like Burp Suite are often instrumental in providing deep insights into server responses, it’s crucial to concentrate on detailing actionable replication steps rather than hypothesizing about backend processes that may not be visible or verifiable from outside our server environment.

Detailing the Impact of Security Issues on Etsy

When reporting a security issue, it is imperative to not only demonstrate how it can be exploited but also to articulate the potential ramifications clearly. Understanding and communicating the impact helps us prioritize issues and address them appropriately.

Consider the possible outcomes if an attacker were to leverage the bug you’ve identified. It’s crucial to differentiate between vulnerabilities that could be triggered passively, as opposed to those requiring victims’ active participation through social engineering tactics.

For instance, a vulnerability like our cross-site scripting (XSS) example inherently carries high severity since it could compromise a user simply by visiting their profile—no misleading links or decoy pages needed. On Etsy, we prioritize these direct threats over ones involving more elaborate schemes such as deceiving users into accessing fake websites imitating Etsy.

Submitting Compelling Proof

To substantiate your findings effectively:

• Incorporate visual proof where possible. Screenshots or video demonstrations can significantly bolster your report by providing clear evidence of the issue.
• Keep videos succinct; focus on showcasing the problem without extraneous information.
• Ensure any sensitive information in visuals is respectfully handled and secured.

Including additional data like dates and specific app version numbers can prove invaluable in our evaluation process. Going beyond identifying issues by suggesting remediation strategies showcases an exceptional level of expertise and responsibility. Not only does this provide immediate starting points for resolution but also potentially increases your reward through our bug bounty program due to the added value of your comprehensive analysis.

Characteristics of an Effective Bounty Report

A well-composed bug bounty report is instrumental in facilitating a swift and effective response to security vulnerabilities. Here’s how you can ensure your submission stands out as exemplary:

Admirable Qualities:

• Clarity: Your report should have a clear, easy-to-follow sequence for replicating the issue.
• Conciseness: Avoid including superfluous information that may detract from the main issue.
• Efficiency: A straightforward proof-of-concept or attack vector that accomplishes the goal is ideal.
• Quality Control: Ensure your submission is free from grammatical mistakes and spelling errors.
• Evidence Handling: Provide evidence such as private video links or photos hosted on reputable sites like YouTube or Dropbox to aid in reproducing the issue.
• Impact Scenario: Present an interesting and realistic exploitation scenario to demonstrate potential risks.
• Official Channels: Always use Etsy’s official bug bounty submission form for reporting your findings.

Attributes of Poor Submissions:

• Plagiarism: Submissions copied verbatim from other sources or extensive scanner tool outputs are frowned upon.
• Unoriginality: Reports that are duplicated without modification from other bug bounty platforms will not be considered genuine submissions
• Tone: Maintain professionalism; avoid being demanding or using rude language in your communication with us.
• Public Exposure Risk: Do not share videos publicly; uploads should be high quality, easy to understand, and hosted securely. Publicly shared evidence could lead to widespread exploitation before resolution, which goes against responsible disclosure practices.
• Exaggeration: Be realistic about the security issue’s impact—overstating it won’t help resolve it any quicker.
• Proper Reporting Protocol: Sending your report to various Etsy email addresses instead of the designated Etsy bug bounty form can lead to disorganization and delays in addressing the issue.

Selecting Appropriate Tools

When participating in Etsy’s bug bounty program, choosing the right tools and understanding the reward system are key to a successful submission.

Effective Tool Usage:

• While automated scanning tools can serve as a starting point, they often generate numerous false positives. We recommend using them judiciously.
• Tools like Burp Suite (an interception proxy) are invaluable for detecting and documenting security issues. They help you monitor and modify web traffic, which is essential for testing vulnerabilities.
• Keeping an open mind is crucial. Consider various angles from which functionality might be exploited—thinking outside the box may lead you to discover significant security flaws.

Understanding Payment Criteria

Reward Guidelines:

1. Familiarize yourself with our bug bounty support portal. It outlines what we consider a valid security issue, helping you focus your efforts on meaningful research.
2. The impact of the reported issue largely determines the bounty amount you can expect to receive:
   • High-impact findings that compromise user data or system integrity will generally command larger rewards.
   • Discoveries with secondary implications that weren’t immediately apparent or pose a broader risk to our community may also yield higher payouts.
3. When two reports present issues of similar impact:

• Both are likely to receive comparable compensation.
• A report that includes a superior write-up or more compelling proof of concept might receive a slightly increased reward.

Encouragement for Researchers

Your contributions as researchers play an integral role in maintaining Etsy’s security posture. By following these guidelines and submitting well-documented, impactful findings through our dedicated channels, not only do you enhance the safety of countless users worldwide—but you also gain recognition and fair compensation for your expertise. We wish all ethical hackers good fortune in their quest to uncover vulnerabilities within our platform—your vigilance helps keep Etsy a trusted space for commerce and creativity. Happy hunting!

Wrapping Up:

In conclusion, Etsy’s Bug Bounty Program stands as a testament to the platform’s unwavering commitment to security and trust within its vibrant global marketplace. Through collaboration with ethical hackers and security researchers, Etsy continues to fortify its defenses, ensuring that both buyers and sellers can engage in commerce with peace of mind.

By rewarding those who responsibly disclose vulnerabilities, Etsy not only upholds its mission to Keep Commerce Human but also fosters a culture of transparency and continuous improvement. The program’s carefully crafted guidelines reflect a deep respect for the integrity of the marketplace and show Etsy’s dedication to sustaining an environment where creativity thrives alongside robust security measures.

As we look towards the future, it is initiatives like this that will set industry standards for how online marketplaces protect their communities. By prioritizing user safety and data protection through proactive security practices, Etsy is helping to build a more secure digital world—one unique item, one creative entrepreneur, and one trusted transaction at a time.

‍