Definition
A VIP bug bounty tier is an invite-only researcher program with higher payouts, faster triage, and closer security-team collaboration than the public program.
Key Points
- github formalizes permanent VIP (effective reports ≥2026-07-27): Critical 20,000; Medium 1,000
- Qualification path (one of): 1 critical / 2 high / 4 medium / 7 low findings — details on HackerOne page
- Public program acts as feeder; static public Critical fixed at $10,000