Over 330K Exposed Prometheus Instances Vulnerable to DoS and RepoJacking Attacks

Over 336,000 Exposed Prometheus Servers Vulnerable to DoS Attacks, Data Leaks, and RepoJacking Exploits

Recent research has uncovered a significant security risk in the Prometheus ecosystem, with over 336,000 Prometheus instances exposed to the internet. This alarming finding includes over 296,000 vulnerable Prometheus exporters and 40,000 Prometheus servers, many of which are misconfigured and exposed without adequate authentication. These vulnerabilities open the door for data breaches, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and remote code execution (RCE) exploits, posing a major risk to organizations using Prometheus for monitoring their systems.

Key Findings:

• Sensitive Data Exposure: Exposed Prometheus servers and exporters have leaked critical information such as plaintext passwords, API tokens, and internal network addresses. For example, one unauthenticated Prometheus instance associated with Skoda Auto revealed internal subdomains, Docker registries, and other sensitive resources.
  

• DoS Risk from /debug/pprof Endpoint: Prometheus’ default /debug/pprof debugging endpoint, used for performance profiling, is exposed by default on many installations. This vulnerability allows attackers to send malicious requests to the endpoint, overwhelming system resources and leading to DoS attacks. Researchers demonstrated how this vulnerability could crash AWS EC2 instances and Kubernetes pods, causing service outages.
  

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• RepoJacking Vulnerability: Several Prometheus exporters are susceptible to a RepoJacking attack. This occurs when a GitHub repository is renamed or deleted, and attackers re-register the original username to host a malicious version of the exporter. Users who unknowingly clone the altered exporter can introduce remote code execution (RCE) in their environments. Notably, several exporters referenced in Prometheus’ official documentation were found vulnerable to this attack.
  

Why This Matters: Prometheus, an open-source tool widely used for system monitoring, can be a treasure trove of information when exposed publicly. Attackers can exploit the data collected by Prometheus to gain a foothold in an organization’s internal infrastructure. The combination of data exposure, DoS attack vectors, and RepoJacking risks makes these vulnerabilities highly critical, especially considering the widespread exposure of Prometheus instances.

Recommendations for Mitigation:

1. Authentication: Implement strong authentication mechanisms for Prometheus servers and exporters to prevent unauthorized access.
2. Limit External Exposure: Deploy Prometheus components behind secure networks (e.g., VPNs or firewalls) to minimize exposure to the internet.
3. Monitor and Secure Debugging Endpoints: Disable or restrict access to debugging endpoints such as /debug/pprof to prevent potential DoS attacks.
4. Verify Open-Source Links: Regularly audit and verify external repositories linked in your projects to prevent RepoJacking and ensure you are not inadvertently downloading compromised code.
5. Resource Limiting: Set limits on system resources (e.g., CPU and memory) to mitigate the impact of DoS attacks.

Conclusion: With over 336,000 exposed Prometheus servers at risk, organizations must take immediate action to secure their monitoring environments. Implementing robust security measures, such as authentication, network isolation, and vigilant monitoring of open-source dependencies, is critical in mitigating the risks posed by these vulnerabilities. The Prometheus community has already addressed some of these issues, but it remains up to individual users to safeguard their systems from exploitation.