AI Slop Kills the cURL Bug Bounty Program: A Warning for Open Source
The cURL bug bounty program has been suspended due to a surge in AI-generated 'slop' reports. Read why Daniel Stenberg chose developer mental health over the reward program.
AI is drowning the very people who build the internet. The founder of cURL, one of the world's most essential networking tools, is scrapping its vulnerability reward program after being buried by a massive spike in low-quality, AI-generated reports.
cURL Bug Bounty Program Scrapped Amid AI Slop Influx
Daniel Stenberg, the lead developer behind the open-source app, announced the decision on Thursday, January 22, 2026. He explained that his small team of maintainers can no longer keep up with the volume of bogus security flaws generated by "slop machines." The program, designed to incentivize ethical hackers, has instead become a source of burnout.
It isn't in our power to change how all these people and their slop machines work. We need to make moves to ensure our survival and intact mental health.
The High Cost of Fake Vulnerabilities
While users expressed concern that ending the bounty program treats the symptoms rather than the cause, Stenberg argued that the team had no choice. The influx of AI-generated noise has made it nearly impossible to find genuine security threats amidst the garbage. Critics worry this move could leave cURL more vulnerable in the long run, but the mental toll on a handful of active maintainers has reached a breaking point.
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