When the Nintendo Switch launched, it came with a variety of issues. That certainly hasn’t stopped gamers from picking the console up, but the physical issues have been popping up over the past month. From Joy-Con connectivity issues to the default dock causing the Switch display to become scratched, Nintendo is hoping to avoid some of the software issues in the future by offering bounties to tech-savvy people.
Nintendo is looking for hackers and tech enthusiasts who have dabbled into bug hunting in the past. Working with Hackerone, Nintendo is offering anywhere between $100 to $2,000 for those who may have discovered a bug or issue within their Nintendo Switch console.
These bounties cover a wide range of activities that the company is looking to clear up from the Nintendo Switch software such as piracy, cheating, and system vulnerabilities.
This is a nice change for Nintendo as they attempt to make the user experience with the Switch as enjoyable as possible. After dealing with hardware issues, our guess is that gamers will be pleased not to deal with any oddities that may pop up during the console use.
However, for those who may already be working homebrew and other vulnerabilities that could allow the ability to tweak the console software, then they very well may be working against the clock.
Listed below are the type of activities that Nintendo is hoping to prevent on the Switch.
Piracy, including
- Game application dumping
- Copied game application execution
Cheating, including
- Game application modification
- Save data modification
- Dissemination of inappropriate content to children
System vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo Switch
- Privilege escalation from userland
- Kernel takeover
- ARM® TrustZone® takeover
Vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo-published applications for Nintendo Switch
- Userland takeover
System vulnerabilities regarding the Nintendo 3DS family of systems
- Privilege escalation on ARM® ARM11™ userland
- ARM11 kernel takeover
- ARM® ARM9™ userland takeover
- ARM9 kernel takeover
Vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo-published applications for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems
- ARM11 userland takeover that doesn’t require other hacks or tools (“secondary” exploits would be those that require other hacks or tools to be effective; those would be out of scope for this program)
- Hardware vulnerabilities regarding either the Nintendo Switch system or the Nintendo 3DS™ family of systems
- Low-cost cloning
- Security key detection via information leaks
