Lab: Exploiting XXE to perform SSRF attacks
Summary: PortSwigger's lab presents a "Check stock" feature that parses XML input and reflects unexpected values in its response, alongside a simulated EC2 metadata endpoint at the default URL http://169.254.169.254/. Solving the lab requires exploiting an XXE vulnerability to perform an SSRF attack that retrieves the server's IAM secret access key from that metadata endpoint.
What you should know: The target here is the IAM secret access key sitting behind the instance metadata endpoint - credentials an attacker can lift through an XML parser that was never meant to make outbound requests.
Read the original at PortSwigger Research ↗
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- Vulnerabilities & Patching
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