Imagine a breach that cost a company over $150 million in fines, remediation, and lost trust. In 2019, this was an all-too-real situation for one business when vulnerabilities in AWS Instance Metadata Service v1 (IMDSv1) were exploited. A single Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attack, leveraging this hidden flaw, led to the exposure of sensitive data for over 100 million customers. The incident underscores a critical vulnerability in cloud security that many organizations still overlook: the inherent risk of relying on IMDSv1.
Despite the availability of IMDSv2, which addresses the security flaws that were exploited in this attack, countless organizations continue to rely on the outdated IMDSv1, leaving themselves exposed to similar attacks. This blog explores the ongoing dangers of IMDSv1, its potential for massive financial impact, and why transitioning to IMDSv2 is crucial for securing modern cloud infrastructures.