The End of an Era: cURL’s Bug Bounty Program Shuts Down Amid AI Slop Crisis

In a shocking move that’s sending ripples through the open-source security community, the cURL project has officially pulled the plug on its bug bounty program, citing an overwhelming flood of AI-generated garbage reports that have made the program unsustainable.

A Crisis Years in the Making

The story begins back in May 2025, when the cURL project first found itself drowning in what security experts now call “AI slop” – a deluge of poorly-researched, often nonsensical vulnerability reports generated by artificial intelligence tools. These submissions, which flooded the project’s HackerOne page, forced maintainers to waste countless hours sifting through what Daniel Stenberg, cURL’s creator, described as “garbage.”

Despite Stenberg’s initial threats to ban anyone submitting AI-generated reports, the problem only intensified. Fast forward to 2026, and the situation has reached a breaking point that no amount of warnings could prevent.

The Final Straw

The immediate catalyst for this drastic decision came in the first week of January 2026. Within a mere 16-hour window, seven new reports poured into HackerOne. While some contained legitimate bugs, none represented actual security vulnerabilities – the primary focus of a bug bounty program. By the time Stenberg published his weekly report, the project had already processed 20 submissions in just the first weeks of the new year.

The New Reality

Starting January 31, 2026, the cURL bug bounty program will officially cease to exist. The project’s security.txt file has been updated with stark, unambiguous language that leaves no room for misinterpretation. Security researchers can still report issues through GitHub or the project’s mailing list, but the days of cash rewards are over.

This decision represents more than just the end of a program – it’s a fundamental shift in how the cURL project approaches security reporting. By removing the monetary incentive, the team hopes to filter out those who are more interested in quick payouts than in contributing meaningfully to software security.

A Stern Warning to Would-Be Abusers

In his characteristic direct style, Stenberg issued a warning to anyone considering gaming the system: “This is a balance of course, but I also continue to believe that exposing, discussing and ridiculing the ones who waste our time is one of the better ways to get the message through: you should NEVER report a bug or a vulnerability unless you actually understand it – and can reproduce it.”

The message is clear: if you’re going to waste the team’s time with poorly-researched reports, you can expect to be called out publicly. It’s a bold stance that prioritizes the integrity of the security process over political correctness.

The Broader Implications

The cURL project’s decision raises important questions about the future of bug bounty programs in an age of AI-generated content. If one of the most widely-used open-source projects in the world can’t sustain its bounty program due to AI slop, what does this mean for smaller projects with fewer resources?

The situation also highlights a fundamental tension in the security research community: how to encourage legitimate research while preventing abuse of systems designed to reward valuable contributions.

What This Means for Security Researchers

For legitimate security researchers, the end of cURL’s bug bounty program is undoubtedly disappointing. However, the project remains committed to receiving and addressing security reports through traditional channels. The key difference is that researchers will now need to be motivated by factors other than financial reward – perhaps the satisfaction of contributing to one of the internet’s most critical pieces of infrastructure.

The Irony of Success

There’s a bitter irony in this situation: cURL’s ubiquity – it’s used by billions of devices worldwide – made it an attractive target for bounty hunters. But that same popularity created the conditions for abuse that ultimately led to the program’s demise.

Looking Forward

As the January 31 deadline approaches, the security community will be watching closely to see how this experiment in removing financial incentives affects the quality and quantity of security reports. Will other projects follow cURL’s lead? Or will this be seen as an extreme response to a temporary problem?

One thing is certain: the era of unchecked AI-generated security reports appears to be coming to an end, at least for cURL. Whether this marks the beginning of a broader shift in how open-source projects handle security reporting remains to be seen.

Tags: cURL, bug bounty, AI slop, security, open source, Daniel Stenberg, HackerOne, vulnerability, termination, 2026, cybersecurity, software security, GitHub, mailing list, cash rewards, garbage reports, bots, financial incentive, security research, internet infrastructure

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