Researchers Seek Cash for Software Flaws

Nine final poker players compete at the final table of the World Series of Poker held at the Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Tuesday, July 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Jae C. Hong - AP)

The newly opened auction site, WabiSabiLabi, doesn't require buyers to work with vendors on a fix before disclosing the flaw. Operators of the site say they try to validate both buyers and sellers _ for example, requiring copies of passports and bank account information _ but many people remain skeptical.

"You potentially do not know who is buying that vulnerability," said Mark Miller, Microsoft's director of security response communications. "The potential for customer risk can be increased."

Roberto Preatoni, strategic director for WabiSabiLabi, said criminals have no need for his site because they can remain anonymous in the black market. He also said his auction functions more like eBay Inc.'s site in connecting buyer and seller, and thus questions of legal liability and disclosure are strictly between those parties.

So far, the amount of vulnerability research that's sold pales in comparison to what's submitted directly to vendors or discovered by the vendors' own research staff. But there are signs the market is growing.

"It's new territory. It's uncharted," said Russell Smoak, head of Cisco's Product Security Incident Response Team. "I have been approached by researchers that have asked (for payment) and to date, we've said no."

Charlie Miller, now the principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, said the demands for payments stem from frustrations that vendors' in-house researchers "are making a lot of money to look for bugs and whenever someone from the outside finds something, they don't get paid anything."

Preatoni described his auction as a way for researchers to receive what their knowledge is truly worth, saying the security industry is currently built on top of research that is undervalued.

Matthew Murphy, who received hundreds of dollars for each of about a dozen submissions to iDefense's program, said that while payments aren't enough to replace a full-time job, they earned him enough in high school to buy his parents a new computer and give him spending money for dinner with friends.

But Miller, after trying to sell two separate vulnerabilities himself including the $50,000 one to the government, concluded it wasn't worth the trouble. He said it was difficult identifying potential buyers, and in one case the vendor had fixed the problem before he could complete the sale.

"I would have loved to start a business out of it," he said. "One of the lessons I learned is that it's impossible to do that."

And that's been one of the challenges of the WabiSabiLabi auctions. Potential sellers must reveal enough to entice buyers, but revealing too much can help others find the flaw independently, negating its value. Preatoni said the site does verify all claims before starting an auction.

Microsoft, which makes the oft-targeted Windows operating system, said it has no plans to start paying contributors, noting that many researchers have eagerly submitted their findings with only the promise of credit, which can be added to resumes to boost job prospects.

"They've clearly told us that by working with us, that model also works for them," Microsoft's Miller said.

Marc Maiffret, chief technology officer at eEye Digital Security, said he, too, has refrained from paying contributors, saying such sales "are pretty much supporting a market which eventually turns into a bidding war. It drives people not to report (problems) to vendors."