Turning a Blind SSRF into a $1000 Cloud Compromise
The target was a SaaS company built entirely on AWS. Their main application was a fortress. But during recon, I stumbled upon a forgotten subdomain: devtools.coolstartup.com. It hosted an internal tool for developers to test webhooks. This tool had a critical flaw: it would make HTTP requests to any URL provided. This seemingly minor oversight—a blind Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)—became the initial thread I pulled to unravel their entire cloud infrastructure, leading to a $1000 bounty. This is the story of how internal tools become external threats.
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Why Internal Tools Are a Goldmine
Internal tools are often built without the same security rigor as customer-facing applications. They assume a trusted user base and a protected network. This makes them prime targets for attackers who can reach them. Common pitfalls include:
- Lax authentication or default credentials.
- Powerful functionality meant for debugging.
- No logging or monitoring for malicious use.