Ambassador API Gateway Scanner

Ambassador API Gateway is commonly used by developers and organizations to manage and control access to microservices in a Kubernetes environment. It provides a comprehensive platform for routing network traffic to the appropriate microservice, handling API calls, and managing API endpoints efficiently. The gateway is utilized by both small and large companies to balance loads, secure APIs, and streamline communication between client applications and backend services. This software is important for maintaining robust connectivity in cloud-native environments. Organizations rely on it to ensure reliable, secured, and performant service communication. Its popularity is due to its ease of use and integration capabilities.

This Scanner identifies an exposure vulnerability within the Ambassador API Gateway where the diagnostics portal is accessible to unauthorized users. The exposure can reveal sensitive internal cluster information, service mappings, and API endpoints. This vulnerability generally stems from misconfigurations in access controls and can lead to information disclosure. The exposure, if detected, indicates that diagnostics are not correctly secured or restricted to internal access only. Addressing this vulnerability is important to protect internal service architectures and their configurations. Affected systems allow potential attackers to gather insights into the deployed microservice topology.

The vulnerability details include access to the sensitive Ambassador Diagnostics Portal which provides insights such as Ambassador version, Cluster ID, route tables, and namespace details. The endpoint at '/ambassador/v0/diag/' can be inadvertently exposed if proper security controls are not in place. The scanner checks for a successful HTTP 200 status response along with specific keywords like "Ambassador Diagnostic Overview" present in the response body to ascertain exposure. This technical check ensures that the portal's contents, which should be private, are not public-facing. Proper filtration of access permissions and internal routing ensures the diagnostics information is protected. Incorrect configurations can easily expose such data if not routinely audited.

Possible effects of this vulnerability being exploited include unauthorized access to internal service mappings and configurations, leading to potential malicious activities such as targeted attacks on specific services or data exfiltration routes becoming visible to attackers. It weakens the overall security posture by revealing too much about the internal workings of the microservices architecture. Attackers could leverage this information to plan broader attacks or exploits against the exposed infrastructure. Such insights provide attackers a map to the internal network's landscape, substantially increasing risk.

REFERENCES

• https://www.getambassador.io/docs/edge-stack/latest/
• https://www.getambassador.io/docs/edge-stack/latest/topics/running/diagnostics/