They are offering up to one million euros for anyone who encounters this problem on WhatsApp.

Because WhatsApp is the most widely used messaging app in the world, the Meta app has become a prime target for cybercriminals to carry out their scams and attacks.

It's very easy for bad actors to spread their scams on this platform because they have so many ways to do it. For example, by having your phone number, or typing a random one, they can start a conversation with you in which they pretend to be someone and trick you.

But this isn't the only way they operate. They're even capable of developing attacks that the user doesn't even have to interact with to fall for. These are the most dangerous, because they can unwittingly steal our personal and banking information through a malicious virus.

For that reason, Pwn20wn has gone all out in its annual Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) cybersecurity contest and, with the sponsorship of Meta, is offering a reward of up to $1 million to anyone who finds a remote code execution (RCE) exploit in the app without the need for user interaction, known in the industry as a zero-click attack.

This enormous reward is the largest ever offered in this contest, and the WhatsApp category was introduced last year, yet no one dared to try it. "Perhaps a number with six zeros will provide the necessary motivation," the ZDI organizers noted ironically in their statement.

To do so, candidates must demonstrate how the malicious code executes without any user input. This is by no means easy, as it requires extremely high technical skills and enormous responsibility, as this vulnerability could jeopardize the app's 3 billion users.

This practice of offering large rewards for those who find vulnerabilities and bugs is quite widespread among technology companies, as it's ultimately more profitable for them to have people competing and working to find these flaws to win a contest than to hire a team and pay them to do the same.

While a million dollars is a lot of money, it isn't for a company like Meta. This method of vulnerability hunting is very beneficial for companies because they'll only have to pay one person and will receive numerous (if any) bugs from the other contestants to fix as well.