How I Spent 30 Days Chasing a $40,000 Bug Bounty And What I Learned the Hard Way
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A bug bounty hunter shares a humbling 30-day experience chasing a $40,000 Critical RCE on an AXIS camera, only to discover the vulnerability was a false positive caused by a fundamental bash shell quoting mistake. Using double quotes in a curl command caused the payload to execute locally on Kali Linux rather than on the target
Table of contents
A bug hunter’s honest account of discovery, forensic investigation, escalations, and the painful lesson that changed my approach forever.🎯 Introduction🔍 The Discovery — September 26, 2025📤 The Submission — $40,000 Potential Bounty⏰ The Waiting Game — Days 1–6🔬 The Forensic Investigation — Where Things Got InterestingFinding #1: October 3, 13:39 TimestampFinding #2: mod_evasive DeploymentFinding #3: CGI Script Age⚔️ The Battle — Escalations, Arguments, and Evidence💀 The Moment Everything ChangedScreenshot 1: Authentication PromptScreenshot 2: Python Execution Test🎓 The Critical Lesson — Shell QuotingThe Problem: Double QuotesThe Solution: Single QuotesThe Definitive Verification Test🔮 What Really Happened in My VideoGet Hacker MD ’s stories in your inboxWhat the October 3 Evidence Actually Showed💡 Lessons Learned (Read These Carefully)Lesson 1: Shell Quoting Is CriticalLesson 2: Use File Creation for Definitive ProofLesson 3: Authentication Prompts Are Red FlagsLesson 4: Test Locally FirstLesson 5: Correlation ≠ CausationLesson 6: Accept Expert Corrections GracefullyWhat I’d Do DifferentlyThe Silver LiningResources That Would Have Helped MeConclusionSort: