Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF): How Attackers Reach Internal Systems Through Your Application for Singapore Enterprises

Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) occurs when an attacker can make the server-side application issue HTTP requests to an attacker-chosen destination — typically internal resources that should not be directly accessible. In cloud environments, SSRF is particularly dangerous because it can access cloud metadata services (the instance metadata endpoint at 169.254.169.254), potentially retrieving IAM credentials, API keys, and configuration data that enable further compromise. SSRF was significant enough to be listed as a standalone category in the OWASP Top 10:2021, and while absorbed into Broken Access Control in the 2025 edition, it remains a critical and actively exploited vulnerability class. Testing for SSRF requires identifying every application feature that fetches external resources and systematically testing for internal-network and metadata-service access.