The URL http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/ is a link-local address accessible only from within an EC2 instance.
If you’ve discovered the string request-url-http-3A-2F-2F169.254.169.254... in your systems:
request-url-http-3A-2F-2F169.254.169.254-2Flatest-2Fmeta data-2Fiam-2Fsecurity credentials-2F The URL http://169
In some cases, instances don’t need IMDS at all. Disable it via instance metadata options.
TOKEN=$(curl -X PUT "http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token" -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds: 21600") curl -H "X-aws-ec2-metadata-token: $TOKEN" http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/ Disable it via instance metadata options
The URL http://169.254.169 is a critical AWS instance metadata endpoint, frequently targeted in Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks to steal temporary IAM credentials. Security experts recommend enforcing Instance Metadata Service Version 2 (IMDSv2) to mitigate these risks by requiring session-oriented tokens. Read the full analysis at Hacking Articles .
The URL http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/ is the standard endpoint for the , specifically used to retrieve temporary security credentials for an IAM role attached to an EC2 instance. Read the full analysis at Hacking Articles
This URL is used by AWS instances to retrieve temporary security credentials for making secure requests to AWS services. The breakdown of the URL is:
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