Microsoft Awards $2.3 Million at Zero Day Quest 2026 for Cloud and AI Flaws

Overview

• Microsoft, which announced the results Wednesday, said researchers from more than 20 countries earned $2.3 million after nearly 700 submissions at its Zero Day Quest 2026 live hacking event.
• The company said teams identified and it remediated more than 80 high‑impact weaknesses in its cloud and AI services during the event.
• Investigators mapped attack paths tied to credential exposure, server‑side request forgery chains, and cross‑tenant access that point to weak identity checks and tenant isolation.
• All testing took place in authorized lab environments under Microsoft’s rules, and the company said no customer data or other tenant systems were accessed.
• Microsoft had promoted a $5 million prize pool for 2026, while reporting $2.3 million in awards from the qualifying challenge and the live event.