Callback-url-http-3a-2f-2f169.254.169.254-2flatest-2fmeta Data-2fiam-2fsecurity Credentials-2f Jun 2026

The endpoint http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/ is the backbone of secure, passwordless authentication for AWS workloads. It allows servers to identify themselves to the cloud without the risks associated with hardcoded passwords.

. If a vulnerable application accepts a URL from a user (e.g., as a webhook or redirect URL) and fetches it without validation, the attacker can force the server to make a request to its own internal metadata service and return the private credentials to the attacker. 3. Impact Assessment If successful, this attack leads to a complete credential leak The endpoint http://169

Due to the prevalence of SSRF attacks, AWS introduced the . If a vulnerable application accepts a URL from a user (e

: If an application allows a user to provide a URL (like a callback or webhook) and then fetches that URL from the server side without validation, an attacker can input the internal 169.254.169.254 address. : If an application allows a user to

These credentials are that grant whatever permissions the IAM role has—potentially full administrative access to S3 buckets, Lambda functions, EC2 control, or even database snapshots.

When a virtual machine (VM) is launched in a cloud environment, it's assigned an instance ID and a set of metadata, including information about the instance's configuration, networking, and storage. The metadata service provides a way for the instance to access this metadata.

: This is a special IP address known as the link-local address or more specifically in cloud computing, it's used for accessing instance metadata. This IP address is not routable and can only be accessed from within the instance.