The credentials contained details about Alex's identity, permissions, and access rights within the kingdom. Armed with this knowledge, Alex felt empowered to navigate the Cloud Kingdom with confidence, secure in the knowledge that they had the necessary permissions to access the resources they needed.
aws s3 ls --profile stolen aws ec2 describe-instances --region us-east-1
: If an IAM Role is attached to the instance, this endpoint lists the name of that role.
This specific attack vector was the methodology used in the 2019 Capital One data breach. An attacker used SSRF on a misconfigured web application firewall (WAF) to query the EC2 metadata service, steal credentials, and subsequently exfiltrate over 100 million credit card applications. This specific attack vector was the methodology used
(if not needed)
The attacker forces the application to request the metadata endpoint.
Breaking In: Fetching EC2 IAM Credentials. With SSRF confirmed, my next goal was to access the EC2 instance metadata service to lo... Mostafa Hussein Cloud Instance Metadata Services (IMDS) - LinkedIn Breaking In: Fetching EC2 IAM Credentials
The use of this request URL and the Instance Metadata Service introduces a number of security benefits:
Configure your WAF to intercept incoming traffic and block any request strings that contain variations of 169.254.169.254 , whether plain text or URL-encoded. While a WAF shouldn't be your only defense, it serves as an excellent perimeter shield against automated exploit scanners. Conclusion
The URL http://169.254.169 is an AWS Instance Metadata Service endpoint utilized to retrieve temporary security credentials, a common target for Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks. Instance Metadata Service Version 2 (IMDSv2) enhances security by implementing session-oriented authentication, mandatory headers, and configurable hop limits to mitigate unauthorized access. whether plain text or URL-encoded.
The pattern http-3A-2F-2F is a dead giveaway:
An SSRF attack occurs when a vulnerable web application (like a "URL preview" or "image uploader") is tricked into making a request to an internal resource that the attacker cannot reach directly.
This IP is only accessible from within the virtual machine (VM) or container itself. It cannot be routed over the public internet.