Attackers Leverage Pandoc SSRF Vulnerability CVE-2025-51591 to Breach AWS IMDS
In September 2025, threat actors exploited a newly disclosed Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the open-source Linux utility Pandoc (CVE-2025-51591), targeting Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environments. The attackers leveraged the flaw to send unauthorized requests to the AWS Instance Metadata Service (IMDS), allowing them to obtain EC2 role credentials and elevate cloud permissions. Security researchers, including Wiz, observed active exploitation in the wild, leading to unauthorized access and potential data exfiltration from affected AWS infrastructure. Organizations relying on Pandoc as part of their cloud automation workflows face heightened risk of credential compromise and lateral movement across accounts. This incident underscores a fast-evolving cloud threat landscape, where attackers exploit supply-chain and open-source vulnerabilities to traverse trusted infrastructure and target sensitive identity and metadata services. The rapid weaponization of CVE-2025-51591 mirrors the broader trend of SSRF attacks on cloud metadata, driving urgent calls for proactive detection, segmentation, and credential management in multi-cloud environments.
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