Vulnerability Disclosure / Responsible Disclosure Policy

We welcome and respect the efforts of security researchers who help us find security vulnerabilities.

Purpose & Commitment

We welcome and respect the efforts of security researchers and ethically minded individuals who help us find security vulnerabilities.

Although we currently do not maintain a formal bug bounty program, we are committed to handling reports in good faith, responding in a timely manner, and offering safe harbor under the conditions described below.

Scope & Eligibility

In-Scope

Researchers may submit vulnerabilities in our systems and services under the following constraints:

  • Web applications, APIs, backend services, and systems under our control
  • Code, logic, authentication, access control, encryption, and data flows
  • Configurations, integrations, and dependencies directly managed by us

If you are unsure whether a target is within scope, please contact us before proceeding.

Out-of-Scope

The following are not eligible or are explicitly disallowed:

  • Issues in third-party services, infrastructure, or software outside our direct control
  • Social engineering (e.g. phishing, vishing), physical attacks, or human manipulation
  • Denial-of-service (DoS) or volumetric attacks causing service disruption
  • Automated scanning of all endpoints without a proof-of-concept or context
  • "Theoretical" vulnerabilities without any exploit path or reproduction
  • Issues affecting deprecated systems no longer in use
  • Weaknesses in client-side code not under our control (e.g. browser extensions we don't maintain)
  • Attacks requiring hardware access

Rules of Engagement / Responsible Research Conduct

To receive safe harbor under this policy, your research must abide by the following rules:

1. Do no harm

  • Avoid disruption to services, performance degradation, or undue load
  • Do not delete, modify, or destroy data
  • Do not attempt to access, download, or exfiltrate more data than needed to demonstrate the vulnerability

2. Limit data access

  • Only access the minimal data necessary to prove the vulnerability
  • If you inadvertently access user data (personally identifiable information, confidential records, etc.), stop further access immediately
  • Delete any sensitive data that you inadvertently obtained as soon as it is no longer relevant to demonstrating the issue, and confirm said deletion in writing

3. Use your own accounts / test accounts

  • Use accounts you own or that have been explicitly provided
  • Do not attempt credential stuffing, password spraying, or in any other way compromise a real user account

4. No escalation beyond necessity

  • Don't pivot to deeper systems unless explicitly allowed or necessary to demonstrate the issue
  • Avoid chain-of-vulnerability tests that may affect systems beyond scope without prior consent

5. Safe timing & disclosure

  • Submit your report promptly once you identify a viable vulnerability
  • Do not publish or share details publicly before we have addressed the issue (or you obtain explicit permission)
  • If a deadline for public disclosure is proposed, it should be reasonable (we understand 90 days as an industry benchmark) and mutually agreed

6. Transparency & cooperation

  • Provide clear reproduction steps, proof-of-concept code or examples where applicable
  • Be responsive to clarifying questions during triage
  • We would appreciate your assistance in retesting once we believe a fix is in place

Safe Harbor / Legal Assurance

When you follow this policy in good faith, we commit:

  • No legal action: We will not initiate civil or criminal actions against you for security research conducted in compliance with this policy.
  • Non-retroactive revocation: Once safe harbor applies to a particular instance of good-faith research, it will not be withdrawn later based on differing views, provided no breach of our guidelines is discovered post-factum.
  • Exception for bad faith: Safe harbor does not apply if we determine the activity was malicious, extortionate, or in clear violation of this policy.
  • No guarantee of reward: As stated, we do not run a bounty program, so submission does not guarantee payment.
  • Credit & acknowledgement: If you prefer, we will credit you publicly for your report (anonymous or by name, per your preference).
  • Confidential handling: We will treat your report in confidence and not disclose personal details without your consent, unless required by law.

Reporting Process & Expectations

Contact / Submission

Send your reports to:security@financemate.de

You may also optionally provide a PGP key for encrypted communication.

A minimal viable report should include:

  • Summary / Title
  • Affected component(s) or URL(s)
  • Step-by-step reproduction or proof-of-concept (with sanitized data)
  • Impact / severity assessment (your view)
  • Any relevant logs, HTTP requests/responses, screenshots
  • Your preferred disclosure name (or "anonymous")
  • Any other environment details (browser, OS, version, etc.)

Response & Timeline

  • We will acknowledge receipt within 5 business days
  • During triage we may follow up with clarifying questions
  • We aim to fix critical/high issues as soon as reasonably feasible
  • We will keep you informed of status / progress periodically

Disclosure & Public Release

  • You may not publicly disclose the vulnerability until we have fixed it (or agreed with you to publish)
  • After fix, we may publish a security advisory summarizing the issue, affected versions, and mitigation steps
  • We commit to credit you in any public disclosure, and will honor requests for anonymity or pseudonymity

No Bounty Program

We do not operate a formal bug bounty, we reserve the option to offer discretionary recognition or rewards (e.g. free access to our services) for exceptional reports, as well as public recognition if desired by the reporter. Any such reward is entirely at our discretion and not guaranteed.

Disclaimer & Rights

  • Participation in testing under this policy is done at your own risk.
  • This policy does not authorize acts that are otherwise unlawful or violate applicable computer misuse laws.
  • We reserve the right to alter or withdraw this policy at any time; changes will be posted publicly with an effective date.
  • By submitting a report, you grant us a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to use the report (including your description, PoC, etc.) to improve our services without owing further compensation.

Revision History

VersionDateNotes
1.02025-10-03Initial release