How I Found a Critical Security Flaw and Earned a Reward on a VDP
Imagine stumbling upon a digital goldmine — not of Bitcoin or NFTs, but of live credit card details and CVV codes, freely accessible to anyone with an internet connection. As a cybersecurity enthusiast, this isn’t a nightmare scenario. It’s an opportunity to prevent disaster.
a security misconfiguration so severe it violated PCI DSS standards and put hundreds at risk of financial fraud. Here’s how a 10-minute search engine trick spiraled into a $$$ reward and a hard-earned lesson in digital vigilance.
The Discovery: How a simple “Search Dorking” Exposed a Data Goldmine
It started with search engine dorking — a technique using advanced operators to uncover hidden data. Think of it as a “Search hack” for exposed secrets.
My query:
site:[subdomain].[domain].com/ [card details]
Within seconds, DuckDuckGo and Bing served up shockingly indexed results:
Full names linked to payment methods, including email.
Live card numbers (e.g.,
4111-1111-1111-1111)CVV codes (e.g.,
123)Expiration dates (e.g.,
12/2028)
The kicker? Google showed nothing. This inconsistency exposed a critical truth: robots.txt is not a security tool. While Google honored the platform’s request to block sensitive pages, other engines ignored it — leaving the data wide open.
Google:
Reference:
Owasp:
The Risks:
This wasn’t just a “whoops” moment. The fallout could have been catastrophic:
PCI DSS Violations:
Instant Fraud
Reputation Apocalypse
Worst of all? This wasn’t even a hack. It was a mistake — a misconfigured client webpage allowed search engines to index payment URLs.
The Resolution: How the Platform Turned Crisis into Opportunity
I reported the issue via their Responsible Disclosure Program, and here’s where the story gets refreshing:
Within 24 hours, exposed links were invalidated and de-indexed.
Root cause identified: A client’s oversight in blocking search engine crawlers.
Implemented safeguards deployed to prevent future leaks.
Kudos to their security team for the quick fix 🙌👏
Even did they have no formal bug bounty program. They acknowledge my Report. The company gifted me $500 as a thank-you.
3 Lessons for Bug Hunters
Dorking 101: Don’t just crawl or fuzz the subdomain u just discovered via recon, try to do Search dork `site:subdomain.domain.com` to see if anything’s sensitive being indexed. Master search operators like
site:,filetype:, andinurl:—but always stay within legal/ethical boundaries.Robots.txt ≠ Forcefield: Treat it as a suggestion, not a security measure. Test across Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex, not just Google.
Build Bridges, Not Bombs: Responsible disclosure = repeat opportunities + Industry Acknowledgement. Burn a bridge, and you’ll regret it.
Final Thoughts: The Internet’s Dirty Secret
Security misconfigurations are the cockroaches of cybersecurity: ubiquitous, hard to kill, and thriving in the shadows. Yet, they’re often ignored until a breach lights a fire.
So, next time you’re online, ask yourself: What’s lurking in your platform’s search engine indexes?
And also, most hackers skip platforms without bug bounty programs. “Why bother reporting if there’s no payout?” they ask.
Remember: Vulnerabilities don’t care about bounty programs. Report them anyway, make a concise and straight to the point report, get acknowledged, the bonus is you might get rewarded unexpectedly.
Stay curious. Stay ethical.
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