Executive Summary

Cloud providers expose a REST API at 169.254.169.254 that lets code on VMs retrieve machine data. While some data is benign, the service can also return IAM role credentials and service account tokens, enabling attackers to harvest secrets from within the cloud environment.

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Intelligence Metadata - Source Publisher: SANS Internet Storm Center - Published Date: 2026-08-19T14:24:58+00:00 - Category: threat-intel

Original Description: Cloud providers typically expose a REST API at 169.254.169.254 that allows code running on virtual machines to retrieve machine-specific data. Some of the data is more or less harmless, such as the region the machine is running in or its MAC and IP addresses. However, the service may also be used to retrieve credentials for IAM roles and service account tokens.

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