High · published January 1, 2026
⚠️ Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this SSRF vulnerability in Cowrie to turn the honeypot into a denial-of-service amplification tool! Think of it like a mischievous prankster using a loudspeaker in a crowded mall to blast unwanted messages — every command sends out requests that bounce through the honeypot, masking the real culprit's location. If exploited, this vulnerability could lead to a flood of outbound HTTP requests directed at third-party services, overwhelming them with traffic. This could result in serious disruption for those services while the attacker remains hidden behind Cowrie's IP!
Think of it like a mischievous prankster using a loudspeaker in a crowded mall to blast unwanted messages — every command sends out requests that bounce through the honeypot, masking the real culprit's location. Cowrie versions prior to 2.9.0 have a server-side request forgery (SSRF) flaw in their emulated wget and curl commands, allowing attackers to invoke real HTTP requests to any target without authentication.
If exploited, this vulnerability could lead to a flood of outbound HTTP requests directed at third-party services, overwhelming them with traffic. This could result in serious disruption for those services while the attacker remains hidden behind Cowrie's IP! Upgrade Cowrie to version 2.9.0 or later to close this vulnerability. Additionally, implement rate limiting for outbound requests to ensure that your honeypot cannot be abused in this manner. It's a good time to review your honeypot configurations! You've got this! By patching and tightening up your controls, you're taking a big step towards securing your environment! 🛡️
| Product | Versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| cowrie/cowrie | < 2.9.0 | 2.9.0 |